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STAPLETON'S CHANTRY - BED & BREAKFAST
Kings
and Witchcraft in North Moreton
Whether
you’re visiting
the Didcot Rail Centre (See Didcot
Steam Trainspotting in Oxfordshire)
for a Steam Day ride on one of the Great Western Society preserved
steam locomotives,
have business in southern Oxfordshire or just want to find a romantic
off-the-beaten-path English country bed & breakfast with an 800
year history dating to Plantagenet kings, try a stop at Stapleton’s
Chantry in North Moreton.
A
farm fresh full English breakfast in a peaceful country setting with
lush greens and flower gardens and
a choice of rooms in the historic
timber-framed former farmhouse with portions dating from 1624 or one
of the separate thatched-roof cottages all with modern comfort amenities.
Stapleton’s Chantry
is five minutes from Didcot, and just off the road to Wallingford, reachable
by car or short taxi ride from the Didcot Parkway Rail Station in the
village of North Moreton.
North
Moreton is one of those countless tiny English villages, just a narrow
country road intersection with a remarkable history
one might never know just passing through. The town’s church, dating
from the Norman period was built in 1270, with original construction
methods still visible and similar architecture to Christ’s Church
Oxford. Miles Stapleton was an important figure in the court of Edward
I and served as Head of Household for Edward II (see Mortimer's
Hole),
ultimately killed at Bannockburn in the English border wars against the
Scots (see Langley
Castle). Before the reformation, itinerant
chaplains
were endowed to travel to the smaller churches to give mass and Miles
de Stapleton built them a “chantry” with purportedly a tunnel
from the house to the church so they would not have to be seen on the
street. There is no tunnel at Stapletons Chantry now, but the breakfast
menu choice does offer Scottish Black Pudding. I don’t
know if there’s a relation to sympathies, but a rather unique flavor
in any case.
There is also a bit of witchcraft lore in the North Moreton history. Reportedly in 1627, local tough Brian Gunter got into a fight over football with Andrew Gregory’s two sons, drew a knife and killed both of them. When Elizabeth Gregory said Old Gunter was a "murdering bloodsucker and should be revenged blood for blood", Gunter’s daughter Anne started having writhing convulsions, foaming at the mouth and “sneezed pins”. Elizabeth was accused of witchcraft and declared by Anne to possess a familiar black rat with a swine’s face and a boar’s tusk. I wasn’t there, I’m just reporting facts, but one begins to wonder exactly how many witchcraft trials resulted from 17th Century football hooliganism?
But
if your idea of witch’s
brew with the coven and the English-Scotish rivalry is watching
a football match with a pint of fine English Ale and some bangers and
mash at
a
local pub which dates back 400 years to those curious days, the Bear
At Home Country Pub in North Moreton offers an updated menu
of well-prepared classic pub food and is family run by Tim & Alison
Haworth (along with two young daughters and dog) and is apparently so
popular with locals
who come from miles for the food and atmosphere around that calling ahead
to reserve a table is recommended! © Bargain
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Web Info
Stapleton’s
Chantry
The
Bear At Home Pub
Didcot
Railway Centre
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For more England Bed & Breakfasts check on Britain Express
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SEE ALSO:
UP
RIVER WITHOUT AN OAR
Rowing and Revolution at Henley-on-Thames
BIG BEN TO GREENWICH THAMES TOUR
LONDON
THRILLER – HITCHCOCK SLEPT HERE
HAUNTED
HOGHTON TOWER
LISTING YOUR VACATION PROPERTY FOR RENT
THE BEAR HOTEL - WOODSTOCK OXFORDSHIRE
STEAM & SPEED - DIDCOT RAILWAY & WILLIAMS F1
Bed & Breakfast Oxfordshire
England
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a Budget with Bargain Travel Europe and also visit Bargain
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