Earliest meeting: Thursday 13th November 1834
Final meeting: Thursday 13th November 1834
The Oxfordshire village of Hampton Poyle lies on the River Cherwell just a mile north east of Kidlington. It is so named because the village was granted to Walter de la Poyle in the 13th century, with the church of St Mary the Virgin also dating from this period. The village gained fame in 1596 when a number of the village’s inhabitants, led by Bartholomew Steer, plotted an Agrarian Revolution. They were opposed to landowners enclosing arable land and using it to graze their sheep. Although they were caught, the Government of the day did recognise the cause of the inhabitants. Dating back from the early days of the 17th century is Poyle Court, a house which still forms part of the village today. In the early 1830s the village held its own race meeting, although the only recorded event took place on Thursday 13th November 1834. The match was between Red Knot owned by Mr T Perring, and Chestnut Horse owned by Mr Hinton. The race started in fields on the edge of Hampton, about 5 miles from Oxford, and continued over 2 miles of heavy ground, confronted by strong fences, until the barn at Islip. Chestnut Horse made the early running, closely followed by Red Knot, but as they came to the distance Red Knot took up the running and eased away from his sole opponent. No further records of future race meetings exist. |
Much of the information about this course has been found using internet research and is in the public domain. However, useful research sources have been:-
London Illustrated News
Racing Illustrated 1895-1899
The Sporting & Dramatic Illustrated
Northern Turf History Volumes 1-4 by J.Fairfax-Blakeborough
The Sporting Magazine
A Long Time Gone by Chris Pitt first published in 1996 ISBN 0 900599 89 8
Racing Calendars which were first published in 1727 |
