Photos of Bartholomew Related Sites
Photographs are © to George and Erika Bartholomew.
Westall Hill Manor House, in the parish of Fulbrooke, Oxfordshire, England, was the home of the early Bartholomews. They owned this manor house for about 200 years. Westall Hill was thought to be owned by John Bartholomew III, and his ancestors. This was christened in Warborough on June 19, 1556. He married Ales Vicarage on November 12, 1593, and was buried in Burford on December 4, 1643. John Bartholomew III's will was made on May 22, 1661, and was proved July 3, 1662. He mentions his brother, Richard Bartholomew, a mercer. His siblings, mentioned in his will, were George, Joane, Anthonis, and Ann Bartholomew (who married an Ayres). John III's brother William was my direct line ancestor. William was christened on February 7, 1567/8 in Warborough, England. Warborough is a parish in the hundreds of Emelme, County of Oxford, 2 3/4 miles (N) from Wallingford. Their church is dedicated to St. Lawrence. William married Friswide, daughter of William Metcalfe, the Mayor of New Woodstock. William Bartholomew was buried in Bartholomew Chapel, St John's Church, on May 6, 1634. William was a mercer, a dealer in silks and woolens, in Burford. William owned the tenement barn lands called Holloways.
Another view of Westall Hill Manor House - showing the location of the old stables. Richard Bartholomew, gentleman, inherited the family estate from his brother William in 1661. They were both sons of John III. Richard Bartholomew was cousin to my ancestor William. Richard married Sarah, daughter of Lawrence Lord, Esquire of Cotteford. William Bartholomew, son of William and Friswede Bartholomew was born in 1602/3. He married Anna Lord, sister of Robert Lord. My ancestor William arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, in the ship Griffin on September 18, 1634.
William's sister, Mary Bartholomew married a Richard Tidmarsh of Brodwell, and came to Massachusetts too. William's brother John inherited the family manor. His brother Henry settled in Salem and Boston, MA. His other brother, Richard Bartholomew, died during a trip between MA. and England.
William had a daughter named Mary who married (1) Major Daniel Dennison (2) Jacob Greene. Joseph his eldest son was born in 1638, and lived in London in 1698. It is not clear if he was heir to holdings in England, which might account for his return to England. William's second son William Bartholomew(1640-1697) was my relative. He married Mary, the daughter of Captain Isaac Johnson and Elizabeth Porter. Mary's grandfather was John Johnson. William was a carpenter.
The Old Norman Church at Fulbrooke, England. Fulbrooke is in the chapelry of the parish of Burford, hundred of Chadlington, Oxfordshire, England.
Old Burford Grammar School. Burford was called Beorford by the Saxons. In 685, an ecclesiastical synod was held in Burford by the kings Ethelred and Berthwald, at which Aldhelm, Bishop of Sherborne was ordered to write against the error of the British Church in the respects to Easter, which was thought of as a pagan holiday. In 752, a battle was fought in Burford between Ethelbald, King of Mercia and Cuthred, King of the West Saxons. Ethelred was defeated and the royal standard bearing the Golden Dragon was captured. During Mid-Summer festivities, many carried the figures of the dragon and the giant.
Dorchester was the tribal capital of the Durotriges and became an important Roman Town during the conquest. After the Norman Conquest, the town was given to Robert, Earl of Gloucester. Robert was the illegitimate son of Henry I. Burford is located on the banks of the Windrush River. Dorchester was known for saddles, the malt trade, and wool. A charter was granted by Henry II made which made "all customs free to burgesses of Oxford." King John's (1199-1216) hunting lodge was in Dorchester until demolished at the end of the 18th century.
Dorchester Abbey is in the parish of Dorchester - The Bartholomews lived in the Overy Mills and Warborough area for many years and attended church here. Overy is a part of the Dorchester Parish lying on the Thames River. It is just a mile from Warborough and Shillingford. The Bartholomew's owned a manor which is now owned by St. John's College in Oxford. This abbey was founded in 1140 by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln. The 1,400 year old Dorchester Abbey is located in the village of Dorchester-on-the-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. Today there is a museum located in the adjoining Abbey Guest House. Dorchester Abbey (now called St. Peter's) was built for the canons of the Order of Saint Augustine (medicant friars also known as "Hermits of St. Augustine"). It was an Arrouaise Order. The first Arrouaise Abbey (now called St. Nicholas) was in France. This abbey was founded around the 1130s. This community developed when Heldemar joined the hermit Ruggerius in 1090. The first abbot of the French Arrouaisian Abbey was Gervais, who was elected in 1121. The abbey was a hermitage and was named after the great Forest of Arrouaise in Artois, which were an extension west from the Forests of the Ardennes, in N.E. France. Artois is an ancient province in N.E. France, which was noted for its artesian wells. The Arrouaians were followers of St Augustine, but had the restrained approach of the Cisterians as their guide in their austere community's philosophy.
Unfortunately, no registers of Dorchester Abbey still exist, since they were destroyed during the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII. Henry VIII had originally reserved most of the property surrounding Dorchester Abbey for a college, which was repressed, when he became the head of the Church of England.
John Bartholomew and his second wife(?) Alice Skutter were married on November 22, 1551, in Warborough. John's son, John, was married in Warborough on November 5, 1552, to Margaret Joyce. John Bartholomew II was thought to have founded Bartholomew Chapel in Burford.
Other Arrouaisian Houses in England are Borne Abbey (SS Peter and Paul), Carlisle, Lesnes Abbey, Missenden Abbey, Notley Abbey, and Warter.
St John the Baptist's Church, Burford, Oxfordshire, England, is located besides the Windrush River. This church is a mixture of Norman and later styles of architecture. At the west entrance is a very fine example of a Norman arch.
Burford is called the "Gateway to the Cotwolds." Burford was listed in the Doomsday Book in 1086. Prosperity years in Burford were from the 14th-17th century, when the wool trade was at its height. The oldest inn in Burford is The LamB's Inn.
View of Bartholomew Chapel, as attached to St John's Church where many Bartholomews are buried. St. John's was originally built circa 1175. There is a memorial here to Sir Lawrence and Lady Tanfield (1628) in St. Catherine's Chapel. Sir Lawrence was the Lord Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth I. Sir Lawrence was thought high-handed, with greed and corruption thrown in. For two hundred years after his death Burford residents burned an effigy of Lord Tanfield annually. His wife was the one that made his monument in St. Catherine's Chapel. The monument was said, to be ostentatious and garish. Today their home is the Bay Tree Hotel. The house has oak paneled rooms with stone fireplaces, and a high-beamed hall with a minstrel's gallery. Twentieth century comforts have been installed. There is also a terraced garden that can be viewed from some rooms.
This page is updated and designed by Maggie Sypniewski, BFA
Last updated on July 4, 2018
