Deddington - History

History

The name is thought to derive from Daeda, probably an early Anglo-Saxon nobleman, and means "the place of the people of Daeda". The village is believed to have been first settled in the 6th or 7th century AD.

After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, William the Conqueror's step-brother Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, held the manor of Deddington. Odo had Deddington Castle built in what is now the east of the town. The castle was almost completely demolished in the 14th century. There have been two archaeological excavations at the site, in 1947 and in 1978. The remains were recovered once the excavations were complete and only the extensive earthworks are visible today.

On 9 June 1312 the Earl of Pembroke was escorting Piers Gaveston south after Gaveston's surrender to a group of rebellious earls at Scarborough Castle. The party stopped to rest at an inn in Deddington, and Pembroke who had guaranteed Gaveston's safety to the king on pain of forfeiting his lands, went to visit his wife at Bampton Castle, Oxfordshire, about 25 miles (40 km) away. The Earl of Warwick with his men surrounded the inn and Gaveston, seeing that his guards would not fight, had to come outside to be chained and thrown in prison. Warwick, whom Gaveston had earlier called black cur (black dog), a serious insult at that time, had now bitten him. A few days later Gaveston, who had been appointed Earl of Cornwall by the king was taken to Warwick to be tried by the other earls and condemned to death. On June 19 he was taken to Blacklow Hill by the Earl of Lancaster and hacked to death by two Welshmen. This event is recalled by a chained eagle in Deddington's coat of arms.