About Finmere History
The history of Finmere and the linked hamlet of Little Tingewick has been researched by Finmere and Little Tingewick Historical Society led by Andy Boddington. The History Society is now dormant as is this website.
The main sources for our history are listed below:
Many sources survive for Finmere’s history. The most important used in compiling this web site are described below.
Rectors’ Book. This a notebook was begun by Thomas Long about 1750 and maintained by Finmere Rectors until 1956. The book begins with a lengthy record of the inclosure of the fields. Finmere’s Rectors, however, soon developed the Book into much more that a legal record and it became an occasional diary in which they could record the major events in the parish. Oxfordshire Record Office PAR/105/9/MS/1.
Parish Registers. The Registers begin in 1560. The earlier registers contain many notes by the Rectors about local, sometimes national events. Causes of death are given by William Jocelyn Palmer from 1826–53 and Henry Trower from 1904–18. Oxfordshire Record Office PAR/105/1.
Vestry Minute Books. These date from 1815, the most detailed covers the years 1815–27. Oxfordshire Record Office PAR/105/2.
School Log Books. The log books from 1874 to 1948 are in Oxfordshire Record Office, T/SL25. Log books for the new school are in possession of the school.
Stowe Estate Records. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, holds an extensive set of letters, accounts and maps relating to Finmere’s period as part of the Stowe Estate, from the beginning of the seventeenth century to its sale in 1848–53.
Blomfield. James Charles Blomfield’s history of the village is an essential source for our history and includes many details not included in our text, especially for pre-1800. History of Finmere, Oxon, JC Blomfield MA, Walford, Buckingham, 1887. Republished in 1998 by Finmere and Little Tingewick Historical Society with a short biography of Blomfield by Andy Boddington, ISBN 0 9533253 0 X.
Burgon. Dean Burgon’s character sketch of William Jocelyn Palmer and Finmere in the early 1850s is one of the more interesting sections of Blomfield’s History of Finmere. 1887 edition: 58–68; 1998 edition: 71–81.
Victoria County History. The VCH was established was founded in 1899 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Finmere’s history is described in detail in Victoria County History of Oxfordshire, V6, pages 116–125. The compilers did not, however, draw on the material in the Huntington Library.
National Census. 1851, 1881