Stanton Harcourt
Coordinates: 51°44′56″N 1°24′07″W / 51.749°N 1.402°W
| Stanton Harcourt | |
 Cottages at the junction of Steady's Lane |
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 Stanton Harcourt
Stanton Harcourt shown within Oxfordshire |
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| Population | 919 (2001 census)[1] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SP4105 |
| Civil parish | Stanton Harcourt |
| District | West Oxfordshire |
| Shire county | Oxfordshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Postcode district | OX29 |
| Dialling code | 01865 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Witney |
| Website | Stanton Harcourt Parish Council |
| List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire | |
Stanton Harcourt is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Witney and 6 miles (9.7 km) west of Oxford.
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[edit] Archaeology
Within the parish of Stanton Harcourt is a series of paleochannel deposits buried beneath the second (Summertown-Radley) gravel terrace of the river Thames. These deposits, which have been attributed to Marine isotope stages, were the subject of archaeological and palaeontological research directed by Kate Scott and Christine Buckingham.[2] Evidence was found for the co-existence of species of elephant and mammoth during interglacial conditions, disproving the widely-held view that mammoths were an exclusively cold-adapted species[3].
An episode of the Channel 4 television programme Time Team featured the excavations at Stanton Harcourt.[citation needed]
[edit] Manor
Stanton is derived from the Old English for "farmstead by the stones",[4] probably after the prehistoric stone circle known as the Devil's Quoits, formerly southwest of the village.[5]
The Domesday Book of 1086 records that the manor was held by Odo, Bishop of Bayeux.[6] It became called Stanton Harcourt after Robert de Harcourt of Bosworth, Leicestershire inherited lands of his father-in-law at Stanton in 1191.[6] The manor remains in the Harcourt family to the present day.[citation needed]
[edit] Parish church
The earliest known record of the Church of England parish church of Saint Michael dates from 1135, and the Norman[7] nave and lower parts of the bell tower are certainly 12th century.[8] In the 13th century the chancel, chancel arch and tower arches were rebuilt[7] and the transepts and stair turret were added.[8] In the 15th century the upper part of the belltower was completed, the Perpendicular Gothic west window of the nave and north and south windows of the transepts were inserted[9] and the pitch of the roof was lowered.[8] The Harcourt chapel was added on the south side of the chancel, possibly by tha master mason William Orchard.[8][9] Pope's Tower in the grounds of the Manor House was built at around the same time, probably also built by William Orchard.[10]. The tower derives its name from Alexander Pope who stayed here in 1717-18, when he used the upper room in the tower to translate the fifth volume of Homer's "lliad". In the summer of 1718 Pope also wrote an epitaph to a young couple, John Hewett and Sarah Drew, who were struck by lightning and killed in the parish. This poem is carved into a memorial on outer wall of the naive.
[edit] RAF Stanton Harcourt
During the Second World War there was a Royal Air Force airfield at Stanton Harcourt. Amongst other things, it is notable for having been a transit point for Winston Churchill and for being a starting point for a bomber raid on the German small battleship (or battlecruiser) Scharnhorst. The airstrips are, for the most part, now gone, but some of the original buildings remain including a Turret Trainer, crew room and various other miscellaneous buildings. The hangars have been converted into office and industrial units.
[edit] Amenities
Stanton Harcourt has two public houses: The Fox[11] and the Harcourt Arms.[12] The parish has a primary school.[13]
Stanton Harcourt has a history of Morris dancing[citation needed] going back to the 19th century. The traditions are kept up to today.[14]
[edit] Notable people
- Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt, is buried here.
[edit] References
- ^ "Area: Stanton Harcourt CP (Parish): Parish Headcounts". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=7&b=798846&c=Stanton+Harcourt&d=16&e=15&g=481719&i=1001x1003x1004&o=1&m=0&r=1&s=1268960374015&enc=1&dsFamilyId=779. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
- ^ Buckingham, Roe & Scott, 1996, page not cited
- ^ Scott, K (2001). "Late Middle Pleistocene Mammoths and Elephants of the Thames Valley, Oxfordshire". http://www.cq.rm.cnr.it/elephants2001/pdf/247_254.pdf. Retrieved 16 March 2010.[dead link]
- ^ Mills & Room, 2003, page not cited
- ^ Crossley & Elrington, 1990, pages 267–274
- ^ a b Crossley & Elrington, 1990, pages 274–281
- ^ a b Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 778
- ^ a b c d Crossley & Elrington, 1990, pages 289–293
- ^ a b Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 779
- ^ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 782
- ^ The Fox Stanton Harcourt
- ^ The Harcourt Arms
- ^ Stanton Harcourt School
- ^ Icknield Way Morris Men
[edit] Sources and further reading
- Barclay, Gill; Gray, Margaret; Lambrick, George (1995). Excavations at the Devil's Quoits, Stanton Harcourt. Thames Valley Landscape Series. 5. Oxford: Oxford University School of Archaeology. ISBN 0947816844.
- Buckingham, C; Roe, D; Scott, K (1996). "A preliminary report on the Stanton Harcourt Channel Deposits (Oxfordshire, England)". Journal of Quaternary Science 11 (5).
- 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. 267–296.
- Lambrick, George; Allen, Tim (2004). Gravelly Guy: Excavations at Stanton Harcourt. Thames Valley Landscape Series. 21. Oxford: Oxford University School of Archaeology. ISBN 0947816666.
- Mills, A.D.; Room, A. (2003). A Dictionary of British Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-852758-6.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 778–784. ISBN 0 14 071045 0.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Stanton Harcourt |
- Pictures and information about RAF Stanton Harcourt
- Stanton Harcourt Qxfordshire through time
- The Devil's Quoits Stone Circle and Henge, Stanton Harcourt
