A brief history of Oddington
Oddington was acquired by St Peter's Abbey, Gloucester, at or soon after its foundation in 681 and transferred to the see of York in 1061. In 1552, the crown granted the barony of Churchdown, which included Oddington to Sir Thomas Chamberlayne who served Tudor Sovereigns as an ambassador. The estate passed down through the Chamberlayne family and was sold in 1787 to Nathaniel Pigot of York. It was sold again in 1787 to Sir John Reade and passed to the Talbot Rice family in 1866. The estate was subsequently broken up and sold. Oddington House became a school and the manor house was let as a farm house and in 1946 became the parsonage.
The number of tenants of the manor remained fairly constant from the 9th century to the middle of the 16th century, several of these tenants being comparatively prosperous. The traditional sheep and corn husbandry was established by the late 16th century. The enclosure award of 1787 allotted 1,120 acres of former open field and common land amongst 36 participants, at various times the village smiths, carpenters and wheelwrights. There was a butchers from 1608 to 1749 and, over the same period, masons. At various other times there were also bakers, tailors, a silk weaver, a thread maker and a collar maker. The number of shops increased in the 20th century as did the number of public houses (there were four in 1902).
The ancient parish church of St Nicholas stands a distance from both villages. It was built at various dates from the 12th century to the 15th century and has an unusual plan comprising chancel, nave, south aisle, south porch and south east tower. The interior was whitewashed, probably during the reformation and this concealed, until 1913, the existence of several medieval mural paintings, particularly a large 'Last Judgement' on the north wall of the nave.
In 1852 a new church, the church of the Holy Ascension, was built midway between the two villages. This church has recently been refurbished to form a centre for the Evenlode Vale churches.
Although there is evidence of nonconformity in the village there does not appear to have been any meeting houses until about 1884 when there was a nonconformist chapel near Fern Bank. A Methodist Chapel was built in 1903 but had fallen into disuse by 1937 and was converted into a house.
In 1819 there was said to be three schools in the village where 40 children received education at their parents' expense, the rest attending Sunday schools. By 1835 there were five day schools. A new school was built in 1844 and by 1871 this was the only school in the parish. At its peak it had 70 pupils but this number had reduced to 30 by 1960 and the school was closed in 1977.
The Oddington Conservation area was first designated by CDC in 1989 and reviewed in 2004 when there were some minor boudary changes. The full document can be seen on the CDC web site.
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