Childrey
Encyclopedia
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....
in the Vale of White Horse
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...
. The parish was part of the Wantage Rural District
Wantage Rural District
Wantage was a rural district of Berkshire, England from 1894 to 1974.It was created in 1894 as a successor to the Wantage rural sanitary district. It was named after Wantage, which formed a separate urban district entirely surrounded by the rural district....
in 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 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 whole of the Vale of White Horse from Berkshire to Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
.
Childrey was originally an island in a marsh, relating it to nearby villages of the Hanney
Hanney
Hanney was an ancient ecclesiastical parish about north of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. It included the villages of East Hanney and West Hanney and Lyford...
, Goosey and Charney. 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...
is derived from the Old English Cille-rīþ, meaning "spring (watersource) - stream".
It has more features than many of the surrounding villages, including a local shop, primary school, duck pond
Duck pond
A duck pond is a pond for ducks and other water fowl. Duck ponds provide habitats for water fowl and other birds, who use the water to bathe in and drink....
, 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:...
, Methodist church
Methodist Church of Great Britain
The Methodist Church of Great Britain is the largest Wesleyan Methodist body in the United Kingdom, with congregations across Great Britain . It is the United Kingdom's fourth largest Christian denomination, with around 300,000 members and 6,000 churches...
, park, public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
, stables and farm store. Childrey had a post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
until its closure in June 2008.
Parish church
The Church of England parish churchChurch 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 Mary the Virgin
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
is notable for its association with the Fettiplace
Fettiplace
Fettiplace is an English family name of Norman descent, with at least 800 years of history. They were landed gentry, chiefly in the counties of Berkshire and Oxfordshire.-Origin:...
family and its collection of memorial brasses
Monumental brass
Monumental brass is a species of engraved sepulchral memorial which in the early part of the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood...
, one of which is the largest in old Berkshire. St. Mary's parish is part of the Benefice of Ridgeway, along with the parishes of Kingston Lisle
Kingston Lisle
Kingston Lisle is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, England. Kingston Lisle was part of Berkshire until the 1974 local government boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire.-Location:...
, Letcombe Bassett
Letcombe Bassett
Letcombe Bassett is a village and civil parish about southwest of the market town of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire....
, Letcombe Regis
Letcombe Regis
Letcombe Regis is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire...
, Sparsholt
Sparsholt, Oxfordshire
Sparsholt is a village and civil parish about west of the market town of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. The village is a spring line settlement at the foot of the Berkshire Downs escarpment. The parish includes the hamlet of Westcot about west of the village...
and West Challow
West Challow
West Challow is a village and civil parish about west of the market town of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. The village is on Childrey Brook, which is a tributary of the River Ock...
.
Transport
The village is about 2 miles (3 km) south of the site of the former Challow railway stationChallow railway station
Challow railway station is a former railway station south of the village of Stanford in the Vale on the A417 road between Wantage and Faringdon...
on 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...
. The Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
opened the station in 1840 and 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 closed it in 1964. The B4001 road passes through Childrey, meeting the A417 road
A417 road
-Streatley - Gloucester :It runs from Streatley at its junction with the A329 to Wantage, over the picturesque Berkshire Downs. In Wantage, it negotiates the market place -Streatley - Gloucester (M5):It runs from Streatley at its junction with the A329 (between Reading and Wallingford) to Wantage,...
about 2 miles (3 km) to the north, next to the railway.
Amenities
Childrey Football Club won the North Berks LeagueNorth Berks Football League
The North Berks Football League is a football competition in England. The league was founded in 1908. It has a total of five divisions, with Division One sitting at Step 7 of the English football league system. Despite its name, the vast majority of clubs are based in South Oxfordshire...
division 3 title in the 2008-09 season and was promoted from division 2 in the 2009-10 season. Childrey now plays in division 1 of the North Berks League, the highest division in the league, for the 2010-11 season.
Challow and Childrey cricket club is based in nearby East Challow
East Challow
East Challow is a village and civil parish about west of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. Historically it was part of the ecclesiastical parish of Letcombe Regis, but since 1852 East and West Challow have formed their own single ecclesiastical parish...
, and represents both villages.
The pavilion in the local park was redeveloped during 2008 because the old pavilion had become dated after many years of use. The new pavilion was formally opened on the 16 May 2009 by jockey and local resident Mick Fitzgerald
Mick Fitzgerald
Mick Fitzgerald is an Irish National Hunt jockey who rode mainly in Great Britain. He has ridden the winners of the Grand National, on Rough Quest in 1996, and the Cheltenham Gold Cup on See More Business in 1999. He was the stable jockey for Nicky Henderson and was leading jockey at the...
.