Swinbrook

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Swinbrook
Oxfordshire

St Mary the Virgin parish church
Location
Grid reference: SP2812
Location: 51°48’25"N, 1°35’38"W
Data
Population: 135  (2011 (inc. Widford))
Postcode: OX18
Dialling code: 01993
Local Government
Council: West Oxfordshire
Parliamentary
constituency:
Witney

Swinbrook is a village and ancient parish on the River Windrush, about two miles east of Burford in Oxfordshire. The village has formed part of the civil parish of Swinbrook and Widford since 1932. Widford is a hamlet about ½ mile west of Swinbrook. The 2011 Census recorded Swinbrook and Widford's parish population as 139.[1]

History

One of the Fettiplace monuments in St Mary the Virgin parish church

The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin dates from about 1200.[2] Its unusual open-sided bell-tower was added in 1822.[2] The church is noted for its 17th-century Fettiplace monuments.[3]

David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale had Swinbrook House built a mile and a half north of the village.[4] Four of his six daughters (the "Mitford sisters") are buried in the parish churchyard: Nancy, Unity, and Diana are buried side by side, while Pamela is buried north-west of the tower.[5] There is a tablet in the church commemorating their only brother, Tom, killed in March 1945 in Burma.

St Mary's also has a monument to the officers and men of the Royal Navy submarine HMS P514, and especially its commander, Lieutenant W.A. Phillimore, whose parents lived at Swinbrook. In 1942 P514 failed to identify herself to the Royal Canadian Navy minesweeper HMCS Georgian. The Canadian ship therefore assumed the submarine to be an enemy vessel and rammed P514, sinking her with the loss of all hands.

Swinbrook Cricket Club has two teams. They play in division 5 and 10 respectively of the Oxfordshire Cricket Association.[6]

References

Sources and further reading

  • Case, Humphrey (1958). "Swinbrook, Oxon.". Oxoniensia (Oxford Architectural and Historical Society) XXIII: 138. 
  • Hinton, David A. (1971). "Medieval Pottery from Swinbrook, Oxon.". Oxoniensia (Oxford Architectural and Historical Society) XXXVI: 107–110. 
  • Ottewell, Gordon (1999). Literary strolls around the Cotswolds and the Forest of Dean. Wilmslow: Sigma Leisure. p. 71. ISBN 1-85058-687-X. 
  • Pearson, Lynn F (2004). Discovering Famous Graves. Oxford: Shire Publications. p. 93. ISBN 0747806195. 
  • Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 799–800. ISBN 0-14-071045-0. 

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Swinbrook)

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