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Longworth

Coordinates:51°41′49″N1°26′15″W/ 51.697019°N 1.4376°W/51.697019; -1.4376
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For other uses, seeLongworth (disambiguation).

Longworth
Longworth is located in Oxfordshire
Longworth
Longworth
Location withinOxfordshire
Population543 (2021 Census)
OS grid referenceSU3999
Civil parish
  • Longworth
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townAbingdon
Postcode districtOX13
Dialling code01865
PoliceThames Valley
FireOxfordshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament
WebsiteLongworth Village on the Web
List of places
UK
England
Oxfordshire
51°41′49″N1°26′15″W/ 51.697019°N 1.4376°W/51.697019; -1.4376

Longworthis a village andcivil parishin theVale of White Horse,England.Historicallywithin the north-west projection ofBerkshire,boundary changestransferred it toOxfordshirein 1974. The village is betweenFaringdon,7 miles (11 km) to the west, andOxford,9 miles (14 km) to the northeast. The2021 Censusrecorded the parish's population as 543.[1]

The parish is bounded by theRiver Thamesto the north, theA420 roadto the south, and field boundaries to the east and west. The land slopes from the A420 road to the river, except at Harrowdown Hill near the northeast corner of the parish, which has a summit of 325 feet (99 m).

Parish church

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The oldest parts of theAnglicanSt Mary's Church, Longworthare 13th-century. The currentchancel,west tower and northaisleare 15th-century. The chancel has areredosby theArts and Crafts movementpainters and sisters,KateandMyra Bunce.[2]It is aGrade I listed building.[2]

The parish is in thebeneficeof Cherbury withGainfield.[3]J. R. Illingworth,a theologian and philosopher, was Rector of St Mary's from 1883 to 1915.

Longworth had aCongregationalchapel, built in 1848, and aPrimitive Methodistchapel, built in 1861.[4]Both chapels have now been converted into private homes.

Manor house

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Longworth's original manor house is early 17th-century. It was built for a judge,Sir Henry Marten,about a mile south of the village on the edge of the Vale of White Horse.[5]It was later the home of his son,Henry Marten,theregicideandrepublican.In the 20th century, it was home toSir Clarendon Hyde,aLiberalMP and businessman.[4]

Stone gazebo in the garden of Longworth Manor (centre left), with the manor house in the background (centre right)

The current manor house,Longworth House,was originally called Manor Farm. It is just west of the parish church.[4]It was built in the late 17th century, and remodelled and extended in the early 20th century. It is a Grade II listed building.[6]It was home toColonel Granville Walton,a leadingScout.[7]

Economic and social history

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Squirrel Cottage on Hinton Road, south of the village

John Fell(1625–86), an English churchman and influential academic, was born in Longworth;[8]he wasDean of Christ Church,Oxford and later concomitantlyBishop of Oxford.

A farmstead about a quarter of a mile (1.2 km) south of the village has a 17th-centurytithe barn,with aqueen postroof sevenbayslong. It is a Grade II* listed building.[9]and ascheduled monument.[10]

The novelistR. D. Blackmore,author ofLorna Doone,was born at the Old Rectory in 1825.[11]His father was brieflycurate-in-chargeof the parish.[12]

Harrowdown Hillis wherebiological warfareexpertDavid Kellydied in 2003 during the Iraqi weapons ofmass destruction controversy.[13]This gave rise to a public enquiry that concluded with theHutton Report.A song byThom YorkecalledHarrowdown Hillquestioned the Government's handling of the matter.

Amenities

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Longworth has anon-denominationalcounty primary school.[14]

AThames Travelbus in Longworth

Oxfordshire County Councilsubsidised bus route 63 betweenOxfordandSouthmoorserves Longworth on weekdays. From Monday to Friday there are five departures a day from Longworth to Oxford, and four buses a day from Oxford to Longworth. There is no service on Saturday, Sunday, or Bank Holidays. The current contractor operating the route isThames Travel.[15]

Public houses

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The Blue Boar public house

There is a pub in the village, the Blue Boar, which was built in 1606 and has a thatched roof.[16][17]

The Lamb and Flag, about 1¼ miles (2 km) southwest of the village, was in the parish until boundary changes in 2011 transferred it toKingston Bagpuize with Southmoor.It is now a private house. These changes brought the Maybush Inn atNewbridgeinto the parish.

The white boar and the white rose on the Blue Boar pub sign are symbols of KingRichard III.The blue boar was the personal badge of theDe Verefamily asEarls of Oxford.It is claimed that when Richard was killed at theBattle of Bosworthin 1485, any White Boar pub signs were quickly repainted as Blue Boar, to signify that the white boar was dead and blue had prevailed.[citation needed]

Blue Boar RFC

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Blue Boar Rugby Football Club,[18]based at the Blue Boar pub, normally plays home games at theOxford R.F.C.ground. It played its first rugby game in March 1977, after a challenge by staff ofBlackwells BookshopinOxford.

In the following season, several more matches were arranged against local sides and the club affiliated to the Oxfordshire Rugby Football Union. The number and quality of its fixtures increased and in May 1981 the club was elected to theRugby Football Union.In September 1980 it made a first tour ofCornwall,followed by further visits in 1987, 1988 and 1989. Its first foreign tour in 1981 took 35 players and supporters to Brittany. The team returned there a year later. In 1991 the club was the first English RFU club to make an official tour of Hungary, hosted by theHungarian Rugby Union.The club reached the final of the Oxfordshire Knockout Cup Plate competition in the 2003–04 and 2008–09 seasons.

References

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  1. ^"Longworth".City Population.Retrieved7 January2021.
  2. ^abHistoric England."Church of St Mary (Grade I) (1048616)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved8 April2016.
  3. ^Archbishops' Council."Longworth: St Mary, Longworth".A Church Near You.Church of England.Retrieved8 April2016.
  4. ^abcPage & Ditchfield 1924,p. 461.
  5. ^Lee, Sidney,ed. (1891)."Marten, Henry (1562?–1641)".Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 28. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  6. ^Historic England."Longworth Manor (Grade II*) (1368400)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved22 May2020.
  7. ^"St Mary's Church, Longworth"(PDF).www.cherbury-gainfield.org.uk.Retrieved22 May2020.
  8. ^Yorke, Philip Chesney (1911)."Fell, John".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 10 (11th ed.). pp. 240–242.
  9. ^Historic England."Tithe Barn (Grade II*) (1387458)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved8 April2016.
  10. ^Historic England."Barn at Longworth House (hospital) (1006289)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved8 April2016.
  11. ^"Blackmore, Richard Doddridge".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 4 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 24.
  12. ^Winn 2010,p. 45.
  13. ^"David Kelly laid to rest".BBC News.6 August 2003.Retrieved5 June2008.
  14. ^Longworth Primary
  15. ^"Thames Travel 63, Thames Travel 63S".Oxford Bus Company.Retrieved2 March2023.
  16. ^"Homepage | The Blue Boar".www.blueboarlongworth.co.uk.Retrieved26 January2019.
  17. ^Historic England."The Blue Boar public house (Grade II) (1284516)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved8 April2016.
  18. ^Blue Boar RFCArchived7 January 2009 at theWayback Machine

Sources and further reading

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Wikimedia Commons has media related toLongworth.


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