Water Eaton, Oxfordshire
Coordinates: 51°48′14″N 1°15′43″W / 51.804°N 1.262°W
| Water Eaton | |
 Water Eaton
Water Eaton shown within Oxfordshire |
|
| OS grid reference | SP5112 |
|---|---|
| Civil parish | Gosford and Water Eaton |
| 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 | Banbury |
| List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire | |
Water Eaton is a hamlet in the civil parish of Gosford and Water Eaton, between Oxford and Kidlington in Oxfordshire.
Contents |
[edit] History
The toponym Eaton is Old English, and "Water Eaton" means "farm by a river",[citation needed] referring to the manor's site beside the River Cherwell.
Water Eaton manor house was built for Sir Edward Frere in 1586 but reduced in size at a later date. A square dovecote survives to the northeast of the house. The Gothic Revival architect G.F. Bodley restored the house in 1890 and made it his home.[1] A Perpendicular Gothic Church of England chapel was built to the north of the manor house in 1610 and restored in 1884.[2]
St. Frideswide's Farmhouse is a 16th century Tudor stone house, and towards the end of that century was a home of the Lenthall family.[3] The house was extended in the 17th or 18th and 20th centuries.[3] It is now a Grade II* listed building.[4]
At the end of the First English Civil War in June 1646 the Articles of Surrender for the siege of Oxford were finally agreed in Water Eaton. They were signed on 20th June in the Audit House of Christ Church, Oxford.
In 1850 the Buckinghamshire Railway between Bletchley and Oxford was opened through the parish. In 1905 Oxford Road Halt was opened 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the manor house. The halt was short-lived, being closed down in 1926.
Water Eaton was a separate civil parish until 1932, when it was merged with its neighbour Gosford.
In 1940 a grain silo and rail siding were built on the south side of the former halt. The silo has been disused since the 1980s but remains a landmark visible over a wide area.[5][6]
In the 2000s Oxfordshire County Council opened a Park and ride site just south of the grain silo. In January 2009 Chiltern Railways announced plans to open a new Water Eaton Parkway railway station on the site of the former halt. Water Eaton Parkway would serve Kidlington and north Oxford.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, pp. 825–826.
- ^ Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 826.
- ^ a b Crossley & Elrington 1990, pp. 179–213.
- ^ "St Frideswides Farmhouse". National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1286525. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- ^ Derelict Places: Water Eaton Grain Silo - August 2008
- ^ Geograph SP5011: Disused grain silo at Water Eaton
- ^ Chiltern Railways Evergreen 3 Project
[edit] Sources
- 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. ISBN 978 0 19722 774 9.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 825–826. ISBN 0 14 071045 0.
