Middleton Cheney, Northamptonshire

Description
Middleton Cheney, a large village and a parish in Northamptonshire. The village stands 2 miles E of the river Cherwell, at the boundary with Oxfordshire, 2 1/2 E by N of Banbury station on the G.W.R. and L. & N.W.R., and 1 1/2 mile NW from Farthinghoe station on the L. & N.W.R. It is divided into two parts, called Lower and Upper; has a post and money order office under Banbury; telegraph office,. Chacombe; also a police court and station, where the pettv sessions tor the Brackley division are held monthly. Th& parish comprises 2320 acres, and is sometimes called Middleton Chenduit; population of the civil parish, 1100; of the-ecclesiastical, 969. The parish council consists of eleven members. The manor belongs to the Horton family. A battle was fought here in 1643, between the Royalists under the Earl of Northampton and the Parliamentarians. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Peterborough; gross value, £420 with residence. Patron, Brasenose College, Oxford. The church, which is one of the best in this part of Northamptonshire, is a spacious building of stone in the-Decorated style, and has a Perpendicular western tower with a graceful spire rising to a height of 150 feet; comprises a1so> nave, aisles, and chancel; has a porch of fine decorated stone work, with lofty ogee roof; was restored in 1865 at a cost of about £3000, under the direction of the late Sir G. Gilbert Scott, R.A.; and contains a well-preserved cinquefoil-headed piscina. There are Baptist, Wesleyan, and Primitive Methodist chapels, nine almshouses built and endowed by Miss Horton in 1863-67, and some other charities.