Spelsbury
Coordinates: 51°53′46″N 1°29′31″W / 51.896°N 1.492°W
| Spelsbury | |
 Parish church of All Saints |
|
 Spelsbury
Spelsbury shown within Oxfordshire |
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| Population | 350 (parish, including Dean & Taston) (2001 census)[1] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SP3421 |
| Civil parish | Spelsbury |
| District | West Oxfordshire |
| Shire county | Oxfordshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Chipping Norton |
| Postcode district | OX7 |
| Dialling code | 01608 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Witney |
| Website | Spelsbury Parish Council |
| List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire | |
Spelsbury (
/ˈspɛlzbᵊri/, locally /ˈspɛw-/) is a village and civil parish about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of Charlbury and about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. Spelsbury stands on a narrow hill between the Coldron and Taston brooks overlooking the River Evenlode and the ancient Wychwood Forest to the north.
Contents |
[edit] History
The toponym is derived from the Old English for either "spying place" or the place of a person called "Speol". It was first recorded in the Cartularium Saxonicum in AD 1010 as Speoles byrig. In 1086 the Domesday Book recorded the village as Spelesberie.[2]
The Church of England parish church of All Saints was originally Norman with a central tower.[3] In about 1200 transepts were added, but during the 13th century the Early English Gothic nave was built on the site of the Norman chancel.[3] The nave is flanked by north and south aisles. The present west doorway in the tower and several of the windows in the aisles are early 14th century.[3]
In 1706 the 1st Earl of Lichfield had the bell tower restored.[3] In 1740 the 2nd Earl of Lichfield had the chancel rebuilt.[3] In 1774 the 4th Earl of Lichfield had the nave and aisles remodelled.[3] The chancel was rebuilt again in 1851.[3] In 2001 the Church of England Benefice of Ascott-under-Wychwood, Chadlington and Spelsbury merged with that of Enstone and Heythrop to form the Chase Benefice.[4]
Spelsbury has a group of almshouses built in 1688 by John Carry.[3] The Coldron Mill, north of the village, is on a site where a mill has existed for at least a thousand years.[citation needed] In the village a drinking fountain in the shape of a shell commemorates Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon, who died in 1853.[5]
The poet John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester lived and is buried in Spelsbury.[6] The actor Sir Ben Kingsley lives in the village.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ "Area selected: West Oxfordshire (Non-Metropolitan District)". Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View. Office for National Statistics. http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do;jsessionid=ac1f930b30d73ec370d62b6f4444bc01a4cf1c94ffa8?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=8&containerAreaId=790500&nsjs=true&nsck=true&nssvg=true&nswid=1020. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- ^ Corbett, 1962
- ^ a b c d e f g h Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 775
- ^ A Church Near You: Spelsbury: All Saints, Spelsbury
- ^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 776
- ^ Hudson, 2005
- ^ Johnston, 2009
[edit] Sources
- Corbett, E (1962). A History of Spelsbury. Banbury: Cheney and Sons.
- Hudson, Christopher (2005-11-13). "The great debauchee". The Sunday Times. Times Newspapers. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article588410.ece. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
- Johnston, Sheila (2009-04-03). "Ben Kingsley interview: dark soul of the knight". The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/5099945/Ben-Kingsley-interview-dark-soul-of-the-knight.html. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 774–776. ISBN 0 14 071045 0.
[edit] External links
Media related to Spelsbury at Wikimedia Commons
