Bourton, Vale of White Horse
Encyclopedia
Bourton is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse
about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Highworth
in neighbouring Wiltshire
. The western boundary of the parish is a stream that also forms the county boundary.
Bourton was part of the parish of Shrivenham
until 1867. Bourton was part of Berkshire
until the 1974 local government boundary changes
transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire
.
of Shrivenham. Its toponym
evolved from Burghton in the 14th century via Borton in the 17th century and has appeared also as Burton. In 1476 George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury
was feudal
overlord of the manor of Buckand in Over Bourton. The manor had been held of the Earl by Sir William Lovel, Lord Morley, who died in that year. In 1529 the manor was recorded as being "late of Sir Francis Lovell
", who was attainted
in 1485 for supporting Richard III
and died childless in 1487. The manor was still owned by the Crown
in 1529 but was leased from 1542. From then until 1664 the Hinton family held the manor, but no subsequent record of it is known.
s were enclosed
in 1792.
In 1804–05 the Wilts & Berks Canal was extended eastwards from Swindon
to Longcot
. The canal passed through the northern part of Bourton parish, and Bourton Wharf was built beside the main road between Swindon and Faringdon
. The canal supplied coal mainly from the Somerset Coalfield
and smaller amounts from the Forest of Dean Coalfield
and Moira
.
The Great Western Main Line
railway was built through the parish in 1840, passing just north of Lower Bourton. Shrivenham railway station
was opened 1/2 mi north-east of Bourton village on the boundary between the two parishes. Acorn Bridge was built for the Great Western in the western part of Bourton parish close to the Wiltshire county boundary. It is a brick bridge, built askew, and is a "double bridge", i.e. it has two arches. The the easterly one spanned the canal and the westerly one spanned the Swindon – Faringdon main road.
Despite railway competition, Bourton Wharf's trade continued to increase until 1848, when 823 long ton
s of Somerset coal were landed there. Thereafter however the railway increasingly dominated coal and other freight traffic, and trade at Bourton Wharf declined rapidly. Bourton Wharf had a small revival in the 1860s but in 1876 the wharf received only 27 tons of Somerset coal, which equates to a full cargo for only one narrowboat
in the entire year. Bourton Wharf handled small amounts of cargo in the mid-1890s, at least some of which was local traffic to or from Melksham
and Wantage
. By this time the Wilts & Berks' maintenance and dredging had deteriorated to the extent that narrowboats could not operate fully laden. In 1901 the Stanley Aqueduct over the River Marden
in Wiltsire collapsed and the little remaining traffic virtually ceased. The Wilts & Berks Canal was formally abandoned in 1914.
After the First World War
the Swindon – Faringdon main road was classified as the A420
. Later in the 20th century the road through Acorn Bridge was widened and realigned to relieve the S-bend by which the road passes under the railway. The westbound carriageway was re-routed through the easterly arch that is no longer used by the canal, and the westerly arch remained in use by only the eastbound carriageway.
Shrivenham railway station continued to serve Bourton and Shrivenham until 1964, when British Rail
ways withdrew all local passenger services between and and closed all intermediate stations including Shrivenham.
Six almshouse
s were established in 1847 by the same benefactors who had founded the school.
Bourton House was built in 1845. It is now the premises of Pinewood School, a co-educational preparatory school
founded in 1875.
Church was built in 1851 in a Decorated Gothic style for the owner of Bourton House. It is now the village hall.
The Church of England parish church
of Saint James was designed by the Gothic Revival architect
J.W. Hugall
. Page and Ditchfield state it was built in 1881 but Pevsner states it was built in 1860.
St. James' parish is now part of a single Church of England Benefice with the parishes of Ashbury
, Compton Beauchamp
, Fernham
, Longcot
, Shrivenham
and Watchfield
. Low attendance and a parish deficit of £6,000 per year led the Diocese of Oxford
to serve notice at the end of 2003 to make St. James' redundant
. Increased attandance and a £2,000 increase in parish income from January 2004 onwards led the Diocese to rescind the notice by June of that year.
Vale of White Horse
The Vale of White Horse is a local government district of Oxfordshire in England. The main town is Abingdon, other places include Faringdon and Wantage. There are 68 parishes within the district...
about 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Highworth
Highworth
Highworth is a market town in the unitary authority of Swindon in Wiltshire, England, located about north-east of Swindon town centre. At the 2001 census it had a population of 7,996...
in neighbouring Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
. The western boundary of the parish is a stream that also forms the county boundary.
Bourton was part of the parish of Shrivenham
Shrivenham
Shrivenham is a large village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England, close to the boundary with Wiltshire. It is in the Vale of White Horse, between Swindon and Faringdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.-Character:Shrivenham features many...
until 1867. Bourton was part of Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
until the 1974 local government boundary changes
Local Government Act 1972
The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974....
transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
.
Manor
Bourton seems to have begun as part of the manorManorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
of Shrivenham. Its toponym
Toponymy
Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
evolved from Burghton in the 14th century via Borton in the 17th century and has appeared also as Burton. In 1476 George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury
George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury
George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, 4th Earl of Waterford, 10th Baron Talbot, 9th Baron Furnivall, KG was the son of John Talbot, 3rd Earl of Shrewsbury and Lady Catherine Stafford, daughter of the 1st Duke of Buckingham....
was feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
overlord of the manor of Buckand in Over Bourton. The manor had been held of the Earl by Sir William Lovel, Lord Morley, who died in that year. In 1529 the manor was recorded as being "late of Sir Francis Lovell
Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell
Francis Lovell, 9th Baron Lovell, 6th Baron Holand, later 1st Viscount Lovell was an English nobleman. He probably knew the later King Richard III of England from a young age, and was to become his lifelong friend and staunch ally....
", who was attainted
Attainder
In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura is the metaphorical 'stain' or 'corruption of blood' which arises from being condemned for a serious capital crime . It entails losing not only one's property and hereditary titles, but typically also the right to pass them on to one's heirs...
in 1485 for supporting Richard III
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
and died childless in 1487. The manor was still owned by the Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
in 1529 but was leased from 1542. From then until 1664 the Hinton family held the manor, but no subsequent record of it is known.
Economic history
Bourton's common landCommon land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
s were enclosed
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
in 1792.
In 1804–05 the Wilts & Berks Canal was extended eastwards from Swindon
Swindon
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
to Longcot
Longcot
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 south of Faringdon and about northeast of Shrivenham. The A420 road between Swindon and Oxford passes through the...
. The canal passed through the northern part of Bourton parish, and Bourton Wharf was built beside the main road between Swindon and Faringdon
Faringdon
Faringdon is a market town in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. It is on the edge of the Thames Valley, between the River Thames and the Ridgeway...
. The canal supplied coal mainly from the Somerset Coalfield
Somerset coalfield
The Somerset Coalfield included pits in the North Somerset, England, area where coal was mined from the 15th century until 1973.It is part of a wider coalfield which covered northern Somerset and southern Gloucestershire. It stretched from Cromhall in the north to the Mendip Hills in the south, and...
and smaller amounts from the Forest of Dean Coalfield
Forest of Dean Coalfield
The Forest of Dean Coalfield, lying under the Forest of Dean, in northwest Gloucestershire, is one of the smaller coalfields in the British Isles, although intensive mining during the 19th and 20th centuries has had enormous influence on the landscape, history, culture and economy of the area.For...
and Moira
Moira, Leicestershire
Moira is a former mining village about west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in North West Leicestershire, England. The village is about miles south of the Derbyshire town of Swadlincote and is close to the county boundary....
.
The Great Western Main Line
Great Western Main Line
The Great Western Main Line is a main line railway in Great Britain that runs westwards from London Paddington station to the west of England and South Wales. The core Great Western Main Line runs from London Paddington to Temple Meads railway station in Bristol. A major branch of the Great...
railway was built through the parish in 1840, passing just north of Lower Bourton. Shrivenham railway station
Shrivenham railway station
Shrivenham railway station was a station on the Great Western Main Line serving the village of Shrivenham in what was then part of Berkshire.-History:...
was opened 1/2 mi north-east of Bourton village on the boundary between the two parishes. Acorn Bridge was built for the Great Western in the western part of Bourton parish close to the Wiltshire county boundary. It is a brick bridge, built askew, and is a "double bridge", i.e. it has two arches. The the easterly one spanned the canal and the westerly one spanned the Swindon – Faringdon main road.
Despite railway competition, Bourton Wharf's trade continued to increase until 1848, when 823 long ton
Long ton
Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton...
s of Somerset coal were landed there. Thereafter however the railway increasingly dominated coal and other freight traffic, and trade at Bourton Wharf declined rapidly. Bourton Wharf had a small revival in the 1860s but in 1876 the wharf received only 27 tons of Somerset coal, which equates to a full cargo for only one narrowboat
Narrowboat
A narrowboat or narrow boat is a boat of a distinctive design, made to fit the narrow canals of Great Britain.In the context of British Inland Waterways, "narrow boat" refers to the original working boats built in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries for carrying goods on the narrow canals...
in the entire year. Bourton Wharf handled small amounts of cargo in the mid-1890s, at least some of which was local traffic to or from Melksham
Melksham
Melksham is a medium-sized English town, lying on the River Avon. It lies in the county of Wiltshire.It is situated southeast of the city of Bath, south of Chippenham, west of Devizes and north of Warminster on the A350 national route. The 2001 UK census cited Melksham as having 20,000...
and Wantage
Wantage
Wantage is a market town and civil parish in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. The town is on Letcombe Brook, about south-west of Abingdon and a similar distance west of Didcot....
. By this time the Wilts & Berks' maintenance and dredging had deteriorated to the extent that narrowboats could not operate fully laden. In 1901 the Stanley Aqueduct over the River Marden
River Marden
The River Marden is a small tributary of the River Avon in England. It flows from the hills surrounding Calne and meets the River Avon about a mile upstream of Chippenham. The river has a mean flow of .-Course:...
in Wiltsire collapsed and the little remaining traffic virtually ceased. The Wilts & Berks Canal was formally abandoned in 1914.
After the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the Swindon – Faringdon main road was classified as the A420
A420 road
The A420 is a road between Bristol and Oxford in England. Between Swindon and Oxford it is a primary route.-Present route:Since the opening of the M4 motorway, the road is in two sections. The first section begins on Old Market Street near the centre of Bristol, it passes through Kingswood before...
. Later in the 20th century the road through Acorn Bridge was widened and realigned to relieve the S-bend by which the road passes under the railway. The westbound carriageway was re-routed through the easterly arch that is no longer used by the canal, and the westerly arch remained in use by only the eastbound carriageway.
Shrivenham railway station continued to serve Bourton and Shrivenham until 1964, when British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
ways withdrew all local passenger services between and and closed all intermediate stations including Shrivenham.
Social history
Bourton village school was built in 1842 and evidently later extended with the addition of a second classroom. It was still open after 1920 but has since closed.Six almshouse
Almshouse
Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
s were established in 1847 by the same benefactors who had founded the school.
Bourton House was built in 1845. It is now the premises of Pinewood School, a co-educational preparatory school
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
founded in 1875.
Churches
Bourton BaptistBaptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Church was built in 1851 in a Decorated Gothic style for the owner of Bourton House. It is now the village hall.
The Church of England parish church
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...
of Saint James was designed by the Gothic Revival architect
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
J.W. Hugall
John West Hugall
John West Hugall, FRIBA, was a British Gothic Revival architect. His dates of birth and death are unknown.-Career:Hugall's works span the period 1848-78. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1871....
. Page and Ditchfield state it was built in 1881 but Pevsner states it was built in 1860.
St. James' parish is now part of a single Church of England Benefice with the parishes of Ashbury
Ashbury, Oxfordshire
Ashbury is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The village is about east of Swindon in neighbouring Wiltshire...
, Compton Beauchamp
Compton Beauchamp
Compton Beauchamp is a hamlet and civil parish southeast of Shrivenham in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.-Location:...
, Fernham
Fernham
Fernham is a village and civil parish about south of Faringdon in the Vale of White Horse. Fernham was historically part of the parish of Shrivenham...
, Longcot
Longcot
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 south of Faringdon and about northeast of Shrivenham. The A420 road between Swindon and Oxford passes through the...
, Shrivenham
Shrivenham
Shrivenham is a large village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England, close to the boundary with Wiltshire. It is in the Vale of White Horse, between Swindon and Faringdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.-Character:Shrivenham features many...
and Watchfield
Watchfield
Watchfield is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, about southeast of Highworth in neighbouring Wiltshire. Watchfield is about north of the village of Shrivenham. Both villages used to be on the main road between Oxford and Swindon, which is now the A420 road...
. Low attendance and a parish deficit of £6,000 per year led the Diocese of Oxford
Diocese of Oxford
-History:The Diocese of Oxford was created in 1541 out of part of the Diocese of Lincoln.In 1836 the Archdeaconry of Berkshire was transferred from the Diocese of Salisbury to Oxford...
to serve notice at the end of 2003 to make St. James' redundant
Redundant church
A redundant church is a church building that is no longer required for regular public worship. The phrase is particularly used to refer to former Anglican buildings in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world...
. Increased attandance and a £2,000 increase in parish income from January 2004 onwards led the Diocese to rescind the notice by June of that year.