Fencott & Murcott

Murcott is a village between the River Ray and Otmoor, about 4 miles south of Bicester. Fencott is a hamlet nearby.

In 1542 the Crown granted most of the land at Murcott to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey. They retained it until the end of the 19th century, when it passed to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.

There was also one hide of land that belonged to Abingdon Abbey. In about 1180 the Abbot of Abingdon gave this holding in an exchange of land to one William Turpin. In 1230 Godstow Abbey bought the land from Osbert Turpin, but had to continue paying quit- rent to Abingdon Abbey. At the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s the land passed to the Crown, which disposed of it in 1553.

Fencott used to have a public house, the Black Bull. It closed before 1939, but there is still a Black Bull Lane in the hamlet.

The Nut Tree public house, in Murcott, is a mid-18th century thatched building. It is now a gastropub and in 2009 was awarded a Michelin Star. Murcott used to have a second pub, the Marlake House, but this had closed by 1939.

Murcott Mission Room was built in 1895 to a plain Early English design by local Gothic Revival architect A. Mardon Mowbray. The Mission Room is a Church of England chapel, part of the Benefice of the Ray Valley, but it is sometimes used by other denominations as well.

---