Standlake - Economic History

Economic History

The Domesday Book in 1086 recorded one watermill on the de Grey estate. By the 13th century the parish had five mills on the River Windrush of which two were fulling mills involved with west Oxfordshire's trade in wool. Weaving was a cottage industry in the parish until the middle of the 18th century.

Gaunt Mill, about 400 yards (370 m) southwest of Gaunt House, was the "new mill" in the early part of the 13th century. It was a double mill with one part for corn and the other for fulling. From the early part of the 17th century it was purely a corn or gristmill. Magdalen College, Oxford acquired interests in Gaunt Mill in 1483 and 1538 and bought the mill outright in 1617. By 1883 the mill was in poor repair and by 1928 it was in only occasional use. Magdalen College sold the mill in 1920 and it was converted to private use in the 1940s and 1950s.

Church Mill, about 250 yards (230 m) upstream of St. Giles' church, existed by 1279. It may have always been a corn mill, and in the 18th and 19th centuries it had a bakery. By 1636 Magdalen College had a half share in Church Mill. The mill was disused by 1911 but was repaired in the 1920s and generated electricity until 1968. During the Second World War it again undertook some corn milling. The mill was restored again early in the 1980s and was still in working order in 2006.

In 1230 Standlake was licenced to hold a three-day market annually on St. Giles day and the days immediately before and thereafter (31 August - 2 September). By 1279 the market had reduced to two days, and shortly thereafter it seems to have lapsed.

By the latter part of the Middle Ages the main north-south route through the parish was that between Witney and Newbridge, which formed part of the main highway between London and Gloucestershire. Since the 1920s the Berinsfield - Abingdon - Witney stretch of this road has been classified as the A415. Aston Road, which links Brighthampton with Cote, was a bridleway until 1629, when it was made into a highway. It is now part of the B4449 road.

By the early part of the 17th century Standlake had three or four public houses, including the Chequers, which traded until at least 1781. By the latter part of the 18th century Standlake had between seven and 11 pubs. The Black Horse is a 16th century building that was a pub by 1761 and continues to trade today. By 1790 The Bell had opened in Rack End, but by 1804 it had moved to the High Street to a building part of which is timber-framed infilled with brick nogging, and the remainder of which is built of Cotswold stone. The Bell was closed for refurbishment for some time after the sale of the pub by Greene King in 2008, but reopened in August 2010 as a free house run by Few Inns.

An open field system of farming prevailed in the parish until 1853, when its common lands were enclosed.