Southmoor

Southmoor
Berkshire
Southmoor Methodist Church
Location
Grid reference:	SU3998
Location:	51°40’48"N, 1°25’23"W
Data
Post town:	Abingdon
Postcode:	OX13
Dialling code:	01865
Local Government
Council:	Vale of White Horse
Parliamentary constituency:	Wantage
Website:	Kingston Bagpuize with Southmoor Community Website

Southmoor is an idyllic village in northwestern Berkshire in the Vale of White Horse some 6 miles west of Abingdon, and is a neighbour to Kingston Bagpuize (with which it shares a parish council).

The village is away from the rush of the through routes, lying just south of the A420 which hurries between Oxford and Swindon. The brook running at the bottom of the village empties into the River Ock a little to the south.

Southmoor has one public house, the ‘’Waggon and Horses’’. It has a village hall, a primary school and a small range of local shops.

Churches

Southmoor Methodist Church

• Church of England: (served by St John, Kingston Bagpuize)
• Methodist: Southmoor Methodist Church

History

John Blandy the Elder left money in his will of 1736 to found the Blandy educational charities. John Blandy the Younger left money to augment the charities in his will of 1791. In 1874 a scheme was established under the Endowed Schools Act 1869 for the Blandy charities to provide an elementary school, scholarships, a public lending library and extra playground facilities. The school is now the village’s primary school, John Blandy Voluntary Controlled School.

A Wesleyan chapel was built in Southmoor in 1841, which is now the village’s Methodist Church and forms part of the Wantage and Abingdon Methodist Circuit.

Sources

• Page, W.H.; Ditchfield, P.H., eds (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. pp. 349–353.