Kidlington

Kidlington
Church Street, Kidlngton
Kidlington  Kidlington shown within Oxfordshire
Population	13,719 (2001 census)
OS grid reference	SP4914
Civil parish	Kidlington
District	Cherwell
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Kidlington
Postcode district	OX5
Dialling code	01865
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Oxford West and Abingdon
Website	Kidlington Parish Council
List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire

Kidlington is a large village and civil parish between the River Cherwell and the Oxford Canal, 5 miles (8 km) north of Oxford and 7.5 miles (12 km) southwest of Bicester.

History

Kidlington's toponym is derived from the Old English Cudelinga tun: the tun (settlement) of the "Kidlings" (sons) of Cydel-hence. The Domesday Book in 1086 mentions Chedelintone and by 1214 the spelling Kedelinton appears in a Calendar of Bodleian Charters.

The Church of England parish church of St. Mary the Virgin is a grade one listed building dating from 1220 with fine medieval stained glass and a 220-foot (67 m) spire known as "Our Lady's Needle". The bell tower has a peal of eight bells. There is evidence of a church existing on the site from AD 1073. Behind the church there are archaeological remains of a three-sided moat, and a causeway has recently been discovered which is possibly of Roman origin. St. Mary's Rectory is Tudor.

Alongside the church is the almshouse, built by Sir William Morton in 1671 in memory of his wife and children, whose names are inscribed above the windows. Sir William was a Royalist Commander during the Civil War and lived in nearby Hampden Manor in Mill Street. Other famous residents of Hampden Manor include Sir John Vanbrugh who lived here during the building of Blenheim Palace in Woodstock. The square tower water closet in the front garden of Hampden Manor was built by Vanbrugh. It drains into a brook that now runs underground along Mill Street into the nearby River Cherwell. Thomas Beecham formulated his medicine whilst living in a cottage near the Manor, where he worked for a time as a gardener for John Sydenham.

The settlement listed in Domesday grew from an ancient village adjacent to the church. Here there are as many 18th century Georgian buildings as modern houses. Until the Enclosure acts in 1818, a large section south of the village was unenclosed common land, and the village was widely known as Kidlington-on-the-Green. Just prior to World War II, this land was built up in an estate known as Garden City.

There was once a zoo in Kidlington where the Thames Valley Police headquarters is now.

In the 1920s and 1930s Kidlington was subject to ribbon development along the main (now A4260) road through the village. Since 1945 many housing estates have been built behind this on both sides.

In the 20th century Kidlington grew to be a contender for largest village in England (as well as Europe) with a population, including contiguous Gosford and Water Eaton (in Gosford and Water Eaton parish), but not neighbouring Yarnton or Begbroke, of over 17,500 (compared to 1,300 in 1901). Kidlington residents have so far resisted proposals to become a town, though it clearly qualifies for such status against any criteria. Following a peremptory change by the Parish Council to Town status, the change was voted down in a ballot of the local electorate by 98%, and reversed.

Railways

A railway station on the Oxford and Rugby Railway near Langford Lane was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened in 1852. The station was named Woodstock Road, although it was nearly 3 miles (5 km) from Woodstock and less than 1 mile (1.6 km) from Kidlington. The Oxford and Rugby Railway was part of the Great Western Railway, which in 1890 added a branch line to a new Blenheim and Woodstock railway station at Woodstock and renamed Woodstock Road "Kidlington". British Railways closed Kidlington railway station in 1964. The station building remained in 1983. Speculation from the 1980s onwards was that a new station might be built on land between Flatford Place and Thorne Close on Lyne Road.

Oxford Road Halt on the former Varsity Line, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of the centre of Kidlington, was opened by the London and North Western Railway in 1905 and closed by its successor the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1926. Train operator Chiltern Railways plans to build a new Water Eaton Parkway railway station on the site of the former halt as part of its Project Evergreen3 development programme.

Amenities

Kidlington has about 50 shops, banks and building societies, a public library, a large village hall and a weekly market. There are seven public houses, two cafes, and four restaurants. The public houses are concentrated along the main A4260 road through the village. North to south these are: the Black Horse, the Black Bull, the Red Lion and the Squire Bassett (changed to the Dogwood after new management, but then later back to the Squire Bassett), as well as the King's Arms in the Moors, and the Six Bells in Mill Street.

The village is home to the headquarters of the Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, Thames Valley Police, the county St. John Ambulance, and the major European publishing company Elsevier which has its UK head office here. Oxford Airport, renamed London Oxford Airport in 2009, is also in Kidlington; since 1962 it has had a pilot training school that has trained thousands of pilots for many airlines in over 40 countries. There are several industrial and business parks and a large motor park in the north of the village. Campsfield House, one of ten Immigration Detention Centres run for the UK government, is also there.

There is a secondary school (Gosford Hill) and a handful of primary schools to deal with the expanding population. Recently Gosford Hill School has started a narrowband radio show for its pupils called GHS Radio.

Kidlington has a Women's Institute.

Economy

Kidlington's economy is made up up primarily of light industrial and commercial business. Thames Valley Police headquarters is also based in the village. Significant to the village's development is the existence of London Oxford Airport. Opposite the airport is the Langford Locks industrial development and Oxford Motor Park home to showrooms for brands such as: Honda, Nissan and Toyota. Businesses such as Guylian Chocolates, Eurocopter and Moss Plastics all have a presence in the village. Privately run prison Campsfield House is controversially situated in the industrial area.

Sports

Kidlington Football Club was founded in 1909. Its first team plays in the Hellenic Premier Division and it has a reserve team, an under 18 youth team and a veterans' team. All these teams are based at Kidlington F.C.'s Yarnton Road ground which is floodlit and has spectator terracing and seating for 150 spectators. The football club has also played at other sites in or just outside the village.

Kidlington Royals Football Club is the only Sunday football team in Kidlington, playing in division 1 of the Upper Thames Valley League. They were founded in 2004 and play their home games at Bletchington Sports Ground (just outside Kidlington). They are regarded as one of the best Sunday League sides in Oxfordshire, being made up of players who play at a high level of Saturday football, including the Southern League and the Hellenic Premier Division.

Gosford All Blacks Rugby Football Club was founded in 1956. Despite its name, the club is based in Kidlington. Gosford's first team plays in the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Premier League.

Kidlington Cricket Club was founded in 1837 and used to play in the Oxford Times Cherwell Cricket League. However, in January 2009 the League voted to expel Kidlington CC for alleged rule breaches. As of the 2010 season, the club now plays in the Oxfordshire Cricket Association (OCA) league.

Sources

• Compton, Hugh J (1976). The Oxford Canal. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. pp. 37, 117, 150. ISBN 0 7153 7238 6. 
• Crossley, Alan; Elrington, C.R. (eds.); Baggs, A.P.; Blair, W.J.; Chance, Eleanor; Colvin, Christina; Cooper, Janet; Day, C.J. et al. (1990). A History of the County of Oxford, Volume 12: Wootton Hundred (South) including Woodstock. Victoria County History. pp. 179–213. 
• Emery, Frank (1974). The Oxfordshire Landscape. The Making of the English Landscape. London: Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 141, 166, 167, 182, 184. ISBN 0 340 04301 6. 
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 670–672. ISBN 0 14 071045 0. 
• Wing, William (1881). Annals of Kidlington. Oxford. 

External links

• This is Oxfordshire website: Kidlington & District Historical Society
• 'Kidlington: Introduction', A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 12
• Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Kidlington
• Kidlington Recreational Trust Social Club
• Gosford Hill School
• Kidlington Royals Football Club Official Website