Woodcote
Encyclopedia
Woodcote is a village in the civil parish in South Oxfordshire
, about 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Wallingford and about 7 miles (11.3 km) northwest of Reading, Berkshire
. It is in the Chiltern Hills
, and the highest part of the village is 600 feet (182.9 m) above sea level.
Woodcote lies between the Goring Road and the A4074. It is centred around the village green and Church Farm, with the village hall centred on the crossroads.
The toponym
Woodcote means "cottage in the wood". Woodcote was first documented in 1109, when it was a dependent settlement of South Stoke
, which in turn was a possession of Eynsham Abbey
. At the time of the Hundred Rolls
in 1279, Woodcote had 14 freeholders and 20 tenants. Woodcote's population grew thereafter but then declined, perhaps as a result of the Black Death
. In 1366 as a result of depopulation 15 virgate
s of land at Woodcote were vacant.
Woodcote Manor
may date from the 12th century. In 1550 it was called Rawlins Manor.
There is a Jacobean
barn in the grounds of Woodcote House. Woodcote House itself is a Georgian
country house
built in 1733. It was remodelled by the architect Detmar Blow
in 1910. Since 1942 it has been the premises of The Oratory School
, a Roman Catholic
day and boarding independent school
.
Woodcote used to hold an annual sheep fair on the first Monday after St Leonard's Day (6 November). The earliest known record of it is from early in the 18th century, but the link with the feast day of the parish's patron saint suggests the fair may have begun in the Middle Ages. The fair was still being held in 1852.
Woodcote farmed largely on an open field system
with five open fields until 1853, when an Act of Parliament enabled an enclosure
award for South Stoke and Woodcote. Woodcote provided the common pasture
for the whole of South Stoke parish, while South Stoke beside the River Thames
provided most of the parish's hay meadow.
In the 20th century Woodcote outgrew South Stoke. By 1920 most residents worked outside the parish, many commuting to either Reading or a RAF
station at Goring Heath
.
Woodcote won the Oxfordshire Village of the Year title for 2008.
. The chapel was dedicated to St. Leonard
and there is a record from 1467 of John Chedworth, Bishop of Lincoln
, issuing a licence for services at it. Architectural evidence suggests that the chapel, which had an apsidal
chancel
, was much older and probably dated from the 12th century.
The people of Woodcote and Exlade Street could not afford to pay a priest to serve at the chapel, and in 1597 it was recorded that the vicar of South Stoke held services at St. Leonard's only on Christmas Day, Easter Day and a few other days each year. Some worshippers travelled 3 miles (4.8 km) each way to South Stoke to go to church, but most preferred to travel less than 1 miles (1.6 km) to SS Peter and Paul in the adjacent parish of Checkendon
. The law obliged everyone to worship in their own parishes, so since 1595 the Rector of Checkendon had prosecuted people from Exlade Street and Checkendon in the local archdeacon's court
for coming to his church. In response the faithful of Exlade Street and Woodcote petitioned John Whitgift
, Archbishop of Canterbury
for permission to worship at Checkendon. Whitgift granted the request, so long as they continued to attend their parish church in South Stoke four times a year. In 1653 the faithful of Woodcote and Exlade Street petitioned for St. Leonard's to be made a separate parish, but their request was not granted.
In 1845-46 St. Leonard's was rebuilt to the designs of the Gothic Revival architect
H.J. Underwood
. Of the original building little survives except the outer flint
work of the chancel
walls.
St. Leonard's parish is now a member of The Langtree Team Ministry: a Church of England benefice that includes also the parishes of Checkendon
, Ipsden
, North Stoke
, Stoke Row and Whitchurch-on-Thames
.
Woodcote has also Roman Catholic and Methodist
churches.
, The Oratory School
and Woodcote Primary School are all in the village. Langtree School is a comprehensive school and recently became a DfES Specialist Performing Arts College.
There are two pre-schools. The Cabin, one of the pre-schools was founded by Mrs Rose Hunt in 1961. It had two previous homes until in 1986 when Mrs Bella Saunders, the Chairperson at the time, along with the Management Committee began raising funds for a new building. £10,000 was raised in just twelve months. The current building was installed in 1987 during the Christmas holidays within the grounds of Langtree School. In September 1996 the name was changed from The Cabin Playschool to The Cabin Pre-School.
and Somerfield.
There is a children's playground built in October 2006 beside the main village green. A basketball net also available.
Woodcote has a Women's Institute. and a Goring
and Woodcote Lions Club.
Woodcote is surrounded in many parts by woodland. There are many country footpaths in the area.
Senior Division; the Reserve team plays in the Reading Football League Division Two, and the Youth team plays in the South Chiltern Minor League Division One.
Woodcote Cricket Club currently plays in the Berkshire Cricket League Premier Division.
South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire is a local government district in Oxfordshire, England. Its council is based in Crowmarsh Gifford, just outside Wallingford....
, about 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Wallingford and about 7 miles (11.3 km) northwest of Reading, Berkshire
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
. It is in the Chiltern Hills
Chiltern Hills
The Chiltern Hills form a chalk escarpment in South East England. They are known locally as "the Chilterns". A large portion of the hills was designated officially as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965.-Location:...
, and the highest part of the village is 600 feet (182.9 m) above sea level.
Woodcote lies between the Goring Road and the A4074. It is centred around the village green and Church Farm, with the village hall centred on the crossroads.
History
Prehistoric artefacts have been found in the area, including a polished hand-axe from about 3000 BC and a larger than life Celtic carved stone head from about 500 BC.The 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...
Woodcote means "cottage in the wood". Woodcote was first documented in 1109, when it was a dependent settlement of South Stoke
South Stoke, Oxfordshire
South Stoke is a village and civil parish on the River Thames, about north of Goring-on-Thames in South Oxfordshire.The parish includes the hamlet and manor house of Littlestoke, north of the village.-Manor:...
, which in turn was a possession of Eynsham Abbey
Eynsham Abbey
Eynsham Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, in England between 1005 and 1538. King Æthelred allowed Æthelmær the Stout to found the abbey in 1005. There is some evidence that the abbey was built on the site of an earlier minster, probably founded in the 7th or 8th...
. At the time of the Hundred Rolls
Hundred Rolls
The Hundred Rolls are a census of England and parts of what is now Wales taken in the late thirteenth century. Often considered an attempt to produce a second Domesday Book, they are named for the hundreds by which most returns were recorded....
in 1279, Woodcote had 14 freeholders and 20 tenants. Woodcote's population grew thereafter but then declined, perhaps as a result of the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
. In 1366 as a result of depopulation 15 virgate
Virgate
The virgate or yardland was a unit of land area measurement used in medieval England, typically outside the Danelaw, and was held to be the amount of land that a team of two oxen could plough in a single annual season. It was equivalent to a quarter of a hide, so was nominally thirty acres...
s of land at Woodcote were vacant.
Woodcote Manor
Manorialism
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...
may date from the 12th century. In 1550 it was called Rawlins Manor.
There is a Jacobean
Jacobean architecture
The Jacobean style is the second phase of Renaissance architecture in England, following the Elizabethan style. It is named after King James I of England, with whose reign it is associated.-Characteristics:...
barn in the grounds of Woodcote House. Woodcote House itself is a Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
country house
English country house
The English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a London house. This allowed to them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these people, the term distinguished between town and country...
built in 1733. It was remodelled by the architect Detmar Blow
Detmar Blow
Detmar Jellings Blow was a British architect of the early 20th century, who designed principally in the arts and crafts style. His clients belonged chiefly to the British aristocracy, and later he became estates manager to the Duke of Westminster...
in 1910. Since 1942 it has been the premises of The Oratory School
The Oratory School
The Oratory School is a Roman Catholic, independent school for boys in Woodcote, Berkshire. It is the last Catholic all-boys boarding school remaining in Great Britain. It has approximately 420 pupils...
, a Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
day and boarding independent school
Independent school
An independent school is a school that is independent in its finances and governance; it is not dependent upon national or local government for financing its operations, nor reliant on taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of tuition charges, gifts, and in some cases the...
.
Woodcote used to hold an annual sheep fair on the first Monday after St Leonard's Day (6 November). The earliest known record of it is from early in the 18th century, but the link with the feast day of the parish's patron saint suggests the fair may have begun in the Middle Ages. The fair was still being held in 1852.
Woodcote farmed largely on an open field system
Open field system
The open field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe from the Middle Ages to as recently as the 20th century in some places, particularly Russia and Iran. Under this system, each manor or village had several very large fields, farmed in strips by individual families...
with five open fields until 1853, when an Act of Parliament enabled an enclosure
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...
award for South Stoke and Woodcote. Woodcote provided the common pasture
Common 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...
for the whole of South Stoke parish, while South Stoke beside the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
provided most of the parish's hay meadow.
In the 20th century Woodcote outgrew South Stoke. By 1920 most residents worked outside the parish, many commuting to either Reading or a RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
station at Goring Heath
Goring Heath
Goring Heath is a hamlet and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire. The civil parish includes the villages of Whitchurch Hill and Crays Pond and some small hamlets...
.
Woodcote won the Oxfordshire Village of the Year title for 2008.
Churches
By 1406 the parish of St. Andrew, South Stoke had at Woodcote a dependent chapel that served both Woodcote and Exlade StreetExlade Street
Exlade Street is a hamlet in Checkendon civil parish in Oxfordshire about northwest of Reading. The hamlet is about above sea level in the Chiltern Hills....
. The chapel was dedicated to St. Leonard
Leonard of Noblac
Leonard of Noblac or of Limoges or de Noblet , is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haute-Vienne, in the Limousin of France.-Traditional biography:According to the romance that...
and there is a record from 1467 of John Chedworth, Bishop of Lincoln
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...
, issuing a licence for services at it. Architectural evidence suggests that the chapel, which had an apsidal
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
, was much older and probably dated from the 12th century.
The people of Woodcote and Exlade Street could not afford to pay a priest to serve at the chapel, and in 1597 it was recorded that the vicar of South Stoke held services at St. Leonard's only on Christmas Day, Easter Day and a few other days each year. Some worshippers travelled 3 miles (4.8 km) each way to South Stoke to go to church, but most preferred to travel less than 1 miles (1.6 km) to SS Peter and Paul in the adjacent parish of Checkendon
Checkendon
Checkendon is a village and civil parish about west of Henley-on-Thames in South Oxfordshire, England.-Parish church:The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is a 12th century Norman building...
. The law obliged everyone to worship in their own parishes, so since 1595 the Rector of Checkendon had prosecuted people from Exlade Street and Checkendon in the local archdeacon's court
Court of the Archdeacon
The Court of the Archdeacon, or Archdeaconry Court, is an obsolete ecclesiastical court of the Church of England.The Court's original responsibilities included trial for minor criminal matters falling within the territory of the archdeacon...
for coming to his church. In response the faithful of Exlade Street and Woodcote petitioned John Whitgift
John Whitgift
John Whitgift was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to his death. Noted for his hospitality, he was somewhat ostentatious in his habits, sometimes visiting Canterbury and other towns attended by a retinue of 800 horsemen...
, Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
for permission to worship at Checkendon. Whitgift granted the request, so long as they continued to attend their parish church in South Stoke four times a year. In 1653 the faithful of Woodcote and Exlade Street petitioned for St. Leonard's to be made a separate parish, but their request was not granted.
In 1845-46 St. Leonard's was rebuilt to the designs of the Gothic Revival architect
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
H.J. Underwood
Henry Jones Underwood
Henry Jones Underwood was an English architect who spent most of his career in Oxford. He was the brother of the architects Charles Underwood and George Allen Underwood ....
. Of the original building little survives except the outer flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
work of the chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
walls.
St. Leonard's parish is now a member of The Langtree Team Ministry: a Church of England benefice that includes also the parishes of Checkendon
Checkendon
Checkendon is a village and civil parish about west of Henley-on-Thames in South Oxfordshire, England.-Parish church:The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is a 12th century Norman building...
, Ipsden
Ipsden
Ipsden is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire, about southeast of Wallingford.-Parish church:The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin was built late in the 12th century as a chapelry of North Stoke...
, North Stoke
North Stoke, Oxfordshire
North Stoke is a village beside the River Thames in the Crowmarsh civil parish in South Oxfordshire, south of the market town of Wallingford.-Parish church:...
, Stoke Row and Whitchurch-on-Thames
Whitchurch-on-Thames
Whitchurch-on-Thames is a village and civil parish on the Oxfordshire bank of the River Thames, about northwest of Reading, Berkshire. Opposite Whitchurch on the Berkshire bank is the village of Pangbourne.-History:...
.
Woodcote has also Roman Catholic and Methodist
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...
churches.
Schools
Langtree SchoolLangtree School
Langtree School is a comprehensive school for students aged 11–16 in the village of Woodcote, South Oxfordshire, England. It became a DfES Specialist Performing Arts College in 2006....
, The Oratory School
The Oratory School
The Oratory School is a Roman Catholic, independent school for boys in Woodcote, Berkshire. It is the last Catholic all-boys boarding school remaining in Great Britain. It has approximately 420 pupils...
and Woodcote Primary School are all in the village. Langtree School is a comprehensive school and recently became a DfES Specialist Performing Arts College.
There are two pre-schools. The Cabin, one of the pre-schools was founded by Mrs Rose Hunt in 1961. It had two previous homes until in 1986 when Mrs Bella Saunders, the Chairperson at the time, along with the Management Committee began raising funds for a new building. £10,000 was raised in just twelve months. The current building was installed in 1987 during the Christmas holidays within the grounds of Langtree School. In September 1996 the name was changed from The Cabin Playschool to The Cabin Pre-School.
Amenities
Woodcote has a Post Office and two shops, LondisLondis
Londis is the name for two convenience store franchises operating in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The stores form a symbol group and are all owned on a franchise basis.-Great Britain:...
and Somerfield.
There is a children's playground built in October 2006 beside the main village green. A basketball net also available.
Woodcote has a Women's Institute. and a Goring
Goring-On-Thames
Goring-on-Thames is a large village and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, about south of Wallingford.-Geography:...
and Woodcote Lions Club.
Woodcote is surrounded in many parts by woodland. There are many country footpaths in the area.
Sport
Woodcote / Stoke Row Football Club currently has three teams. The First team plays in the Reading Football LeagueReading Football League
The Reading Football League is a football competition based in England. It has a total of six divisions – the Senior Division, the Premier Division, then Divisions One to Four....
Senior Division; the Reserve team plays in the Reading Football League Division Two, and the Youth team plays in the South Chiltern Minor League Division One.
Woodcote Cricket Club currently plays in the Berkshire Cricket League Premier Division.