Watlington in 1840

Watlington is in the hundred of Pirton, about 16 miles from Oxford. The parish has an area of 3,440 acres ; the population in 1831 was 1,833, nearly half employed in agriculture. The town consists of narrow steets, irregularly laid out ; the houses are mean and ill-built, chiefly of brick.

The market-house is a substantial brick building. The church, an ancient building on the north-west side of the town, contains some neat monuments. There are several dissenting meeting-houses. A few females are engaged in lace-making, for which there is a school, attended by 30 or 40 girls. There are some corn-mills near the town.

There is a small market on Saturday, and two yearly fairs. Petty sessions are held here once a fortnight. The living is a vicarage of the clear yearly value of £175. There were in the parish in 1833, an endowed day-school with 20 boys ; two boarding-schools with 19 boys and 20 girls ; and three Sunday-schools with 254 children.