Watlington is a market town as well as civil parish concerning 7 miles (11 km) south of Thame in Oxfordshire, near the region's eastern edge and less than 2 miles (3 km) from its boundary with Buckinghamshire. The parish includes the districts of Xmas Common, Greenfield as well as Howe Hillside, all of which remain in the Chiltern Hills. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,727. The Watlington area is likely to have actually been resolved at an early day, encouraged by the closeness of the Icknield Way. The toponym suggests "negotiation of Waecel's individuals" and also suggests occupation from around the 6th century. A 9th-century charter by Æthelred of Mercia records eight 'manses' or significant residences in Watlington. The Domesday Book of 1086 identified the location as a farming neighborhood valued at £ 610. Medieval records indicate that the modern street plan remained in presence in the 14th century, as Cochynes-lane (Couching Street), as well as Brook Street are recorded. There are records of inns in Watlington given that the 15th century. In 1722 the town's market was noted as being hung on a Saturday. By the end of the 18th century the community had six inns, all of which were bought up in the next couple of years by a local developing family, the Haywards. The number of accredited facilities enhanced up until late in the 19th century when George Wilkinson, a Methodist bought 6 of them and closed them down. Today Watlington has 3 pubs: the Carriers Arms, The Chequers and also The Fat Fox Inn. Parliamentarian troops were billeted at Watlington throughout the English Civil War. It is believed that John Hampden remained in the community the evening prior to the Battle of Chalgrove Field. In 1664-- 65 the Town Hall was developed at the cost of Thomas Stonor. Its top room was enhanced by Stonor as a grade school for children, as well as in 1731 Dame Alice Tipping of Ewelme gave a further endowment to increase the number of students. In 1842 the town Vestry developed a National School, which shared the exact same rooms in the City center. In 1843 a National College for girls was constructed beside St Leonard's church. In 1872 the young boys' and also girls' schools were soaked up into a new Board institution, which like its precursors was associated to the National Society for Promoting Religious Education. In 1927 the institution was separated right into separate junior and also elderly schools. In 1956 a new high school-- the Icknield Institution-- opened for senior pupils and the primary school took control of the old properties. The Icknield School is currently Icknield Community College. By 1895 the City center, no more used as a college, remained in disrepair. In 1907 it was brought back by public membership. It is a spots at the meeting point of three roadways in the centre of the town. Because 1990 Watlington has actually been twinned with the community of Mansle in the Poitou-Charentes area of France. The Watlington Hoard, a collection of silver products going back to the moment of Alfred the Great in the 9th century, was rediscovered in Watlington by James Mather, an amateur metal-detectorist, in 2015. The stockpile was subsequently excavated, and eventually bought by the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford for £ 1.35 m.