Longcot

Longcot

St Mary's parish church
Longcot
 Longcot shown within Oxfordshire
Population 617 (2011 Census)
OS grid referenceSU2790
Civil parishLongcot
DistrictVale of White Horse
Shire countyOxfordshire
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town Faringdon
Postcode district SN7
Dialling code 01793
Police Thames Valley
Fire Oxfordshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK ParliamentWantage
WebsiteLongcot Village
List of places
UK
England
Oxfordshire

Coordinates: 51°36′58″N 1°36′18″W / 51.616°N 1.605°W / 51.616; -1.605

Longcot is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse District. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The village is about 3 miles (5 km) south of Faringdon and about 2.5 miles (4 km) northeast of Shrivenham. The A420 road between Swindon and Oxford passes through the parish 1 mile (1.6 km) northwest of the village. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 617.[1]

Geography

Longcot Civil Parish covers 1,894 acres (766 ha). It is in a wide bend of the nascent River Ock, in typical low-lying vale landscape. The view to the south is dominated by the scarp of the Lambourn downs, including the Uffington White Horse.[2]

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin has a 13th-century Norman nave and chancel.[3] One lancet window on the north side of the chancel is original[3][4] but all other the current windows were inserted later.[4] On the north side of the church they include one two-light Decorated Gothic and one four-light Perpendicular Gothic window.[3] The pulpit is Jacobean.[3][4]

The tower was rebuilt in 1721[4] or 1722.[3] Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester cast five new bells in 1722, followed by the treble bell in 1729[4] to complete a ring of six.

St Mary's is now part of the Church of England Benefice of Shrivenham and Ashbury, which also includes Bourton, Compton Beauchamp, Fernham and Watchfield.[5]

Economic and social history

Elm trees by St Mary's parish church, photographed in 1935 by Fred C. Palmer

Longcot (or, until the 20th century, Longcott) was part of Shrivenham Hundred, with the manor and most of the land being held by Viscount Barrington.

For most of its history Longcot was an agricultural community, but population growth in the early 19th century began with the arrival of the Wilts & Berks Canal in 1805[6] and the building of Longcot Wharf, which was the wharf nearest to Faringdon. The village population declined in line with the loss of commercial traffic on the canal to the Great Western Railway, completed in 1841. The canal was formally abandoned by Act of Parliament in 1914.[7]

The parish has had a Church of England school since 1717,[4] the original building in the southwest corner of the churchyard paid for by voluntary subscription.[4] The current school building, built in 1969 opposite The Green on Kings Lane, replaced a previous building on the same site built in 1874.

In 2002 Longcot won two categories in Oxfordshire's Best Kept Village competition: "Best Small Village" and "Best Newcomer".[8]

Amenities

Longcot has a pub, the King and Queen,[9] which is a free house.

Population

The following data has been taken from historical Census information in the public domain.

Year Total Male Female Households
1871 494 229 265 110
1881 393 198 195 92
1891 310 162 148 77
1901 256 139 117 65
1911 334 169 165 77
1921 295 146 149 71
1931 264 139 125 76
1941 No Census Taken
1951 285 143 142 88
1961 337 173 164 102
1971 446
1981
1991
2001 574 290 284 220

References

  1. ↑ "Area: Longcot (Parish): Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Panoramio photograph of the Uffington White Horse
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Pevsner 1966, p. 170.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Page & Ditchfield 1924, pp. 531–543.
  5. ↑ Archbishops' Council (2015). "Benefice of Shrivenham and Ashbury". A Church Near You. Church of England. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  6. ↑ Dalby 2000, p. 23.
  7. ↑ Dalby 2000, p. 96.
  8. ↑ "Villagers' pride pays off in battle for honours". The Oxford Times. Newsquest. 25 July 2002.
  9. ↑ The King & Queen

Sources and further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Longcot.
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