Located on Oxfordshire's western fringe between the rivers Leach and Thames, the nine rural settlements covered in this volume are typical Cotswold villages, with their limestone-built farmhouses, their former open fields, and their extensive former sheep pastures. All belonged to a sizeable late Anglo-Saxon estate whose break-up gave rise to the later parish structure: Langford church, with its celebrated late eleventh-century tower, may have begun as a small minster. Excavations at Radcot have revealed much about the settlement's early character, including the discovery of a twelfth-century castle. The area as a whole is predominantly agricultural, though milling, malting and quarrying have all been significant. Woodland at Bradwell Grove was important from the middle ages. In later years the villages developed in diverse ways, displaying contrasting closed and open characteristics.
The most famous village is arguably Kelmscott, where the designer William Morris rented Kelmscott Manor as a summer home from 1871; but Filkins was home to the Labour politician Sir Stafford Cripps, who worked with local craftsmen to build several Cotswold-style houses and community buildings there. Gentry houses include the nineteenth-century Gothic mansion at Bradwell Grove, which became the centre of a substantial estate and later of the Cotswold Wildlife Park.
Details
First Published: 16 Aug 2012
13 Digit ISBN: 9781904356400
Pages: 328
Size: 30.5 x 20.8
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: Victoria County History
Series:
Victoria County HistorySubject:
Medieval HistoryBIC Class: HBLC1
Details updated on 13 Jun 2013
Contents
- 1 Broadwell, Langford, and Kelmscott: Cotswolds to Thames
- 2 Broadwell Parish
- 3 Broughton Poggs Parish
- 4 Langford Parish
- 5 List of Abbreviations
- 6 Sources
