Wychwood Park

There are two plaques in Toronto about this neighbourhood.
Both can be seen on this page.

Photos by contributor Laura Cooper - Posted January, 2008

Here, beside one of the private roads in Wychwood Park, is a 1986 Toronto Historical Board plaque that says:

Plaque coordinates: 43.677308 -79.419973

Wychwood Park was named after Wychwood Forest in Oxfordshire, England, by Marmaduke Matthews, a landscape painter. He built the first house in the park in 1874 hoping to establish an artists' colony. In 1891 a subdivision plan was registered and a park reserve, including Taddle Creek and its pond, was vested in trust for the use of property owners. Many of the early houses are by Toronto architect Eden Smith and they reflect the English Arts and Crafts Movement - simple composition and traditional English house forms, blended with the natural landscaped site. In its origins, development and operation, the park is a unique and early example of a planned community in Toronto. Wychwood Park was designated as a Heritage Conservation District under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1985.

Photo by the City of Toronto - Posted September, 2011

Photo and transcription by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted September, 2011

Attached to this westbound St. Clair Avenue West transit shelter at Wychwood Avenue is this City of Toronto plaque. Here's what it says:

Plaque coordinates: 43.682132 -79.423783

The origins of the name Wychwood can be traced back to about 600 AD, to a Saxon kingdom known as the Hwicce, and to a large forest or 'wudu'. Thus we get Hwiccewudu, by the 13th century: Wychwood, and surprisingly in the 19th century: Whichwood!
In 1860, Marmaduke Matthews, artist and inventor, immigrated to Canada from Fifield, Oxfordshire, England. From Fifield House, where he grew up, he would have looked out to such places as Shipton-under-Wychwood, Milton-under-Wychwood, and the retreating Wychwood Forest (a Royal Forest until 1857).
It is through him, from his house 'Wychwood', which he built in 1874 on land that was later to form part of Wychwood Park, that we get a name which has been such an influence, over the years, on this entire area.

Related Toronto plaque
Taddle Creek

More
Towns and Villages

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Posted January 27, 2012
My Name is John Mansell. Through the computer and scanning technology I have been putting together a collection of old family photos for the last eight years. For most of those years I have been trying to find Andrew or Stephen Paul Mansell. Four of my grandfathers siblings married four of Stephen's grandfather's siblings so our old family photos are well entwined. I have collected well over 600 old family photos and documents to share, including photos of Stephen Marmaduke Matthews 1913 wedding to Mary Mansell. If anyone has any information that could help connect Stephen Paul Matthews and I please email me at jbwonderful@shaw.ca

Posted November 19, 2010
I recently read your comments on line while researching Wychwood Park and Marmaduke Matthews and thought I would share a bit of my own history with you. My great great Uncle Ambrose Goodman married Linn Matthews daughter of Marmaduke and together they had a son named Harold who died during the first World War. My mother( 95yrs of age) who lives in Calgary, Canada remembers visiting her great Aunt Linn at Wychwood Park as a little girl and attending parties. On one occasion she remembers all the little girls stood behind a very large window curtain in the drawing room with only there shoes showing and the little boys had to pick a girl to escort into the very formal dining room . She said it was all so lovely. My great great Aunt Linn must have given my grandmother the two Marmaduke Matthews paintings which still hang on the walls of my Mother's living room to this day. One of the paintings is one we fondly call the Sheep picture.. sheep grazing in an English meadow and the other one which is much smaller is of ducks on a pond. I know that Marmaduke Matthews was commissioned by Mr. van Horne to paint landscapes of the Canadian Rockies to promote the famous CPR route across Canada. Our family moved to Alberta many years ago but we have many links to Toronto. I thought it would be interesting to connect with you.
Best regards, Liz Gibbs-Otteson

Posted August 14, 2010
My name is Keith Hazell. I would also be interested in contacting Stephen Paul Matthews, who is my eighth cousin 1x removed. I was born in Oxfordshire but after my last consular posting in the Canary Islands, I am living in retirement in Tenerife. I have traced the Matthews family back to the 1740s.

Posted May 19, 2010
My name is Robert Matthews - I live in Oxford, England and am trying to trace my link with Marmaduke Matthews and Canada. I have a large amount of family tree information and would be interested in getting in touch with Stephen about this - reference his comment on this web-site. I can be reached on bobmat5@talktalk.net. Many thanks.

Posted April 26, 2009
I highly recommend a walk in Wychwood park, if not to visit this unique plaque, then at the least to admire the beautiful heritage homes as well as flora and fauna. After all it is on the migratory flight path of a variety of birds and some of its trees are 200 years old. When standing at the plaques location one can take in a spectacular view of downtown Toronto and the C.N. Tower. Bring a camera.
Edy

Posted December 8, 2008
The plaque was unknown information to stumble upon - this was my great, great uncle. Marmaduke Matthews was uncle & namesake to my grandfather, Stephen Marmaduke - who also came to Canada and made his mark farming in Sask. My dad is Andrew Stephen Matthews and his eldest is Stephen Paul. It was really nice to find the site. Thank you for your research and mention of this.

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