Ashbury, Oxfordshire
Coordinates: 51°33′50″N 1°37′08″W / 51.564°N 1.619°W
| Ashbury | |
 Ashbury War Memorial |
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 Ashbury
Ashbury shown within Oxfordshire |
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| Population | 495 (2001 census)[1] |
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| OS grid reference | SU2685 |
| Civil parish | Ashbury |
| District | Vale of White Horse |
| Shire county | Oxfordshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Postcode district | SN6 |
| Dialling code | 01793 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Wantage |
| Website | Ashbury Parish News |
| List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire | |
Ashbury is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The village is about 7 miles (11 km) east of Swindon in neighbouring Wiltshire. The parish includes the hamlets of Idstone and Kingstone Winslow.
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[edit] Archaeology
The neolithic burial site of Wayland's Smithy is in the parish 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the village.
[edit] History
The earliest known record of Ashbury is from AD 840, when King Æthelwulf of Wessex granted land at Aisshedoune to his minister Duda.[2] In subsequent charters the toponym evolved as Æcesbyrig in AD 856, Aysshedoune in AD 947, Æcesburuh in AD 953 and 960 and Eissesberie in the 11th century.[2]
After AD 953 the manor of Ashbury was granted to Glastonbury Abbey, which then held it until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.[2] A deer park was established for the Abbey in the south of the parish.[3] It is bounded by an ancient embankment enclosing a rounded area characteristic of Medieval parks.[4] It may equate to the Aysshen Wood recorded in a terrier of the parish in 1519 as covering 415 acres (168 ha).[2] The former deer park is now the Upper Wood of Ashdown Park.
Ashbury Manor House was built in the 15th century.[2][5] The brick upper storey of its porch was added in 1697, which is also the likely date that the chimneys were added.[2][5]
Ashdown House, built in about 1660, is in the parish about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the village.
[edit] Churches
The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary was originally Norman but was rebuilt in the 13th century.[6] In the 20th century the artist Martin Travers converted the north transept into a chapel of Saint Hubert in memory of Evelyn, Countess Craven who had lived at Ashdown House in the parish.
Ashbury has a former Methodist chapel in Chapel Lane.[7] It is now a private home.
Ashbury Mission Hall was a "tin tabernacle" building of corrugated iron opened in 1908.[7] The building was replaced in 1972-73 with the present Ashbury Evangelical Free Church.[7]
[edit] Amenities
Ashbury has a public house, the Rose and Crown Hotel,[8] controlled by Arkell's Brewery.[9] The village has a sub-Post Office.
The Church of England primary school in Ashbury serves both Ashbury and Compton Beauchamp.[10] The present school was built in the latter part of the 20th century. The previous school building is now the village hall.
Ashbury has a cricket club.[11]
[edit] References
- ^ "Area: Ashbury CP (Parish): Parish Headcounts". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=798711&c=Ashbury&d=16&g=481259&i=1001x1003x1006&k=headcounts&m=0&r=1&s=1269343737677&enc=1&domainId=15&dsFamilyId=779. Retrieved 23 March 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f Page & Ditchfield, 1924, pages 503-512
- ^ Ford, David Nash (2004). "Ashbury". Royal Berkshire History. David Nash Ford. http://www.berkshirehistory.com/villages/ashbury.html. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
- ^ Rackham, 1976, page 144
- ^ a b Pevsner, 1966, page 71
- ^ Pevsner, 1966, pages 70-71
- ^ a b c Bunce, Suzanne (2009). "Ashbury Evangelical Free Church". Ashbury. Ashbury Parish Council. http://www.ashbury.org.uk/evangbook.php. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
- ^ Welcome to the Rose and Crown
- ^ Arkell's Pubs: The Rose and Crown Hotel, Ashbury
- ^ Welcome to Ashbury with Compton Beauchamp CE(A) Primary School website
- ^ Ashbury Cricket Club
[edit] Sources
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ashbury, Oxfordshire |
- Page, W.H.; Ditchfield, P.H., eds. (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. pp. 503–512.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 70–72.
- Rackham, Oliver (1976). Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape. Archaeology in the Field Series. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. p. 144. ISBN 0 460 04183 5.
