Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Blewbury
Blewbury is a village and civil parish at the foot of the Berkshire Downs section of the North Wessex Downs about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Didcot, 14 miles (23 km) south of Oxford and 50 miles (80 km) west of London. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,581.
A number of springs rise at the foot of the escarpment of the downs. Some springs feed a small lake called the Watercress Beds, where watercress used to be grown. From here and elsewhere tributaries feed the Mill Brook which carries the water to the river Thames at Wallingford. The A417 road runs along below the escarpment above the springs and through the south of the village. The Blewbury citizens are often called Blewbarians.
The southern part of the parish is chalk downland and includes a number of prehistoric sites. The Ridgeway is an ancient trackway that passes just south of the parish. Half of the 360 feet (110 m) high Blewburton Hill is in the parish. It is topped by an Iron Age hill fort that may have been occupied from the 4th century BC to the 1st century BC. The parish's highest point is the 520 feet (160 m) Churn Hill, 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) southwest of the village. On its northwestern side are two round barrows, the larger of which is Churn Knob.
There are other round barrows further south, towards the boundaries with Compton and East Ilsley parishes. During the Roman occupation, a shrine or temple was built near the Ridgeway on Lowbury Hill. A 7th-century Anglo-Saxon burial mound, containing a sword and hanging bowl (which were relocated to The Oxfordshire Museum), can be found near to the Roman shrine or temple.
The parish was historically divided into three manors. The Great Manor was held by the Crown until the 17th century. The Prebendal Manor was held by the Church. Nottingham Fee was bought by a long-established local family, the Humfreys, in about 1652. They retained some of it including the manor house Hall Barn until recent times.[when?]
The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of St Michael the Archangel are the early Norman 11th-century nave and sanctuary. At least two Norman windows survive. St Michael's was transformed in the late Norman period in about 1190, when the transepts and present chancel were built to make it a cruciform church. At the crossing a central tower was built, and of this only the columns and vault survive. The south aisle was added in the 13th century, linked with the nave by a five-bay arcade in which the two western arches are taller than the other three. In the 14th century the north aisle were added with its two-bay arcade of octagonal columns, and the Lady chapel south of the chancel.
The west tower was also added in the 15th century. This may be when the central tower was dismantled, leaving only the columns and vault visible inside the church. Also from the 15th-century, are the choir stalls, the screen between the chancel and Lady chapel, the baptismal font and a doorway to a former rood loft. Inside St Michael's are several monumental brasses, most of which are late Medieval. One is of a priest, John Balam, who died in 1496. A triple brass from about 1500 depicts a knight and his two successive wives. Another represents Sir John Daunce, who died in 1545, with his wife who died in 1523 and their children. Another depicts John Latton, who died in 1548. Unusually there is also a 19th-century brass: an image of Faith in memory of John Macdonald, a boy who died aged 13 in 1841. In about 1875 the north porch was rebuilt and the nave was re-roofed. The church is a Grade I listed building.
The west tower has a ring of eight bells. Joseph Carter of Reading cast the sixth bell in 1586. As well as his name and the year, the bell bears the legend Blessed be the name of the Lorde. Henry II Knight, also of Reading, cast the third bell in 1663. His successor Samuel Knight cast the fourth bell in 1689 and the fifth bell in 1704. Edward Read of Aldbourne, Wiltshire cast the seventh bell in 1752. John Hunt, who briefly ran a bell-foundry at Cholsey, cast the tenor bell in 1825. These may have completed a ring of six bells, until John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast the present treble and second bells in 1906. St Michael's also has a Sanctus bell that Thomas II Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast in 1819. St Michael's parish is part of the Churn Benefice.
Hub AI
Blewbury AI simulator
(@Blewbury_simulator)
Blewbury
Blewbury is a village and civil parish at the foot of the Berkshire Downs section of the North Wessex Downs about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Didcot, 14 miles (23 km) south of Oxford and 50 miles (80 km) west of London. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,581.
A number of springs rise at the foot of the escarpment of the downs. Some springs feed a small lake called the Watercress Beds, where watercress used to be grown. From here and elsewhere tributaries feed the Mill Brook which carries the water to the river Thames at Wallingford. The A417 road runs along below the escarpment above the springs and through the south of the village. The Blewbury citizens are often called Blewbarians.
The southern part of the parish is chalk downland and includes a number of prehistoric sites. The Ridgeway is an ancient trackway that passes just south of the parish. Half of the 360 feet (110 m) high Blewburton Hill is in the parish. It is topped by an Iron Age hill fort that may have been occupied from the 4th century BC to the 1st century BC. The parish's highest point is the 520 feet (160 m) Churn Hill, 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) southwest of the village. On its northwestern side are two round barrows, the larger of which is Churn Knob.
There are other round barrows further south, towards the boundaries with Compton and East Ilsley parishes. During the Roman occupation, a shrine or temple was built near the Ridgeway on Lowbury Hill. A 7th-century Anglo-Saxon burial mound, containing a sword and hanging bowl (which were relocated to The Oxfordshire Museum), can be found near to the Roman shrine or temple.
The parish was historically divided into three manors. The Great Manor was held by the Crown until the 17th century. The Prebendal Manor was held by the Church. Nottingham Fee was bought by a long-established local family, the Humfreys, in about 1652. They retained some of it including the manor house Hall Barn until recent times.[when?]
The earliest parts of the Church of England parish church of St Michael the Archangel are the early Norman 11th-century nave and sanctuary. At least two Norman windows survive. St Michael's was transformed in the late Norman period in about 1190, when the transepts and present chancel were built to make it a cruciform church. At the crossing a central tower was built, and of this only the columns and vault survive. The south aisle was added in the 13th century, linked with the nave by a five-bay arcade in which the two western arches are taller than the other three. In the 14th century the north aisle were added with its two-bay arcade of octagonal columns, and the Lady chapel south of the chancel.
The west tower was also added in the 15th century. This may be when the central tower was dismantled, leaving only the columns and vault visible inside the church. Also from the 15th-century, are the choir stalls, the screen between the chancel and Lady chapel, the baptismal font and a doorway to a former rood loft. Inside St Michael's are several monumental brasses, most of which are late Medieval. One is of a priest, John Balam, who died in 1496. A triple brass from about 1500 depicts a knight and his two successive wives. Another represents Sir John Daunce, who died in 1545, with his wife who died in 1523 and their children. Another depicts John Latton, who died in 1548. Unusually there is also a 19th-century brass: an image of Faith in memory of John Macdonald, a boy who died aged 13 in 1841. In about 1875 the north porch was rebuilt and the nave was re-roofed. The church is a Grade I listed building.
The west tower has a ring of eight bells. Joseph Carter of Reading cast the sixth bell in 1586. As well as his name and the year, the bell bears the legend Blessed be the name of the Lorde. Henry II Knight, also of Reading, cast the third bell in 1663. His successor Samuel Knight cast the fourth bell in 1689 and the fifth bell in 1704. Edward Read of Aldbourne, Wiltshire cast the seventh bell in 1752. John Hunt, who briefly ran a bell-foundry at Cholsey, cast the tenor bell in 1825. These may have completed a ring of six bells, until John Taylor & Co of Loughborough cast the present treble and second bells in 1906. St Michael's also has a Sanctus bell that Thomas II Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast in 1819. St Michael's parish is part of the Churn Benefice.