Thame in 1840
Thame is in the hundred of Thame, and on the south bank of the river Thame, a feeder of the Thames, 47 miles from the General Post-office, London, through High Wycombe and Stokenchurch. The area of the parish is 5,310 acres ; the population. in 1831, was 2,885, about half agricultural. Thame suffered considerably in the Danish wars. In the civil war of Charles I and the parliament, several skirmishes were fought near the town, which was surrounded by the garrisons of the contending parties. Thame consists chiefly of one long and spacious street : the market-place is tolerably commodious. The church is a large and handsome building, cruciform, and consists of a nave with side aisles, transepts, and chancel, with a fine embattled tower at the intersection of the nave and transepts, supported on four massive pillars. The architecture is early English. The entrance to the church is by a stone porch, adorned by a canopied niche, which once contained a statue of the patron saint ; and the church contains several ancient monuments. Near the church are the school-house, a large and noble building, with a fine school-room ; and the ruins of the ancient prebendal house of Thame. The school was founded by the will of Lord Williams of Thame (A.D. 1558), and among the persons educated in it were Bishop Fell, Pococke the Orientalist, Anthony à Wood, and others.
The market is held on Tuesday, and is a considerable market for corn and cattle. There are two yearly fairs, if not more. A little lace is made in the town. The river Thame is navigable from this place. The living is a vicarage, united with the vicarage of Towesay and the chapelries of Tetsworth and Sydenham, of the joint yearly value of £300. There were in the parish, in 1833, a free-school, with 24 boys on the foundation and 30 others ; a school, with 17 children, supported by subscription ; and three other day or boarding schools, with 86 children; and four Sunday-schools, with 195 boys and 224 girls. The grammar-school had no pupils.
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