Thanks to everyone with help on Selina Randle (Randall) and her entry in the 1871 census. Thanks to Geoff for advising on the features of Ancestry that I had missed. It's an interesting debate about Neithrop. Certainly looking at the Old-Maps link that was posted, Neithrop seems to be in the area described by the 1871 census (map is 1880's), whilst Boxhedge road is a little way off, unless Neithrop had extended to there or vice versa. Regards Neil ----- Original Message ---- From: Angela Allen <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, 27 August, 2007 8:37:47 PM Subject: [BAN] Neithrop, Oxon + 1871 Census RootsWeb: ENG-BANBURY-AREA-L Re: [BAN] Neithrop, Oxon + 1871 CensusHi all, The below mail can be found in Banbury archives. Jack Steer is an ex Mayor & councillor of Banbury - his opinion may help some. Locals tend to think of 'Neithrop' as being Warwick rd, Ruscote area of town. Non locals often feel it is/was a seperate village/hamlet to the town. I've lived here all my life & the varying parameters of where Neithrop did/does cover still confuses me! Angela co-admin From: "jack steer" < > Subject: Re: [BAN] Neithrop, Oxon + 1871 Census Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2002 17:37:23 +0100 Neithrop is one of those strange spots that one finds occasionally. It has only been part of the borough of Banbury since 1889. So referring to a modern map is slightly confusing. Neithrop has never been a civil parish nor I think an ecclesiastical one. Nor have I ever seen it described as a village, rather a hamlet with a few farmhouses. The map I have shewing the parish of St Mary's, Banbury in the middle ages includes Neithrop field to the North West of the town. As far as I can judge this would have covered the area which is bounded nowadays by Broughton Road and Southam Road almost as far as the existing town boundary. Although there were farmhouses in the area the only collection of buildings that formed the hamlet of Neithrop appear to have been centred on Boxhedge Square (from memory each corner of the square had a pub until the sixties at least). The nearest streets today would be Union Street and Boxhedge Road, both to the West of Warwick Road. The oldest remaining buildings are in Boxhedge Road with some nice seventeenth century houses. Neithrop was brought within the Banbury Borough boundary by an Order in Council signed on 16.7.1889. Grimsbury on the Eastern side of the town was transferred from Northamptonshire at the same time. However the definition of a nice and tidy boundary for Neithrop would be a jolly good topic for a PhD thesis and I doubt that whoever did it would come to any tidy conclusion. The name appears to have been used somewhat indiscriminately in records for the sake of convenience, particularly from about 1820. For example the Calthorpe area which was an ancient manor and appears regularly in St Mary's PR was included in the enumeration district of Neithrop for some (at least) of the nineteenth century censuses. Until Neithrop was brought under the Borough the two parts had different police forces/constables with each being limited to its own area. Unsurprisingly the hamlet of Neithrop did not have much in terms of law enforcement and it is alleged that locals who were less than law abiding tended to move to Neithrop. On 23.11.1819 the Neithrop Association for the Protection of Person and Property was formed to remedy the situation. This body hired a night watchman who would keep an eye open for wrong doers who were invading the property of the association's members. It also offered rewards for the conviction of offenders on a sliding scale murder was worth 20.0.0, burglary 10.0.0 whilst stealing goods from a shop was only worth 3.0.0. and pulling wool from a sheep 1.0.0. The last time the Association became involved in a prosecution appears to have been in the early 1940s. Someone poached a rabbit. However it still meets for an AGM and what may best be described as a traditional dinner (it has been the same menu for at least 40 years) with a fair amount of beer. In my experience the AGM lasts about 90 seconds. Whilst a study of the area used by sundry bodies to define Neithrop would be interesting, I suspect that the conclusion would be imprecise and would vary depending on the period. Banbury's boundary was last changed in 2000 and this was only the latest of a very large number of changes. I think the answer for anyone looking for people who may have used Neithrop as an address at some point is to check all the PR and census records for the area of modern Banbury including Neithrop, Grimsbury, Christ Church and St Mary's and the non conformist registers for North Oxfordshire. They could be in any one of them. The degree of confusion for local residents continues to this day. The OCC electoral division of Neithrop is quite different to the Cherwell District Council ward that is given the same name. Regards, Jack Steer Neithrop Field, Banbury ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The online Northamptonshire marriage strays index has just been updated. Now nearly 7,000 marriages are included. View them at http://www.northants1841.fsnet.co.uk/northants%20strays.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message