Curbridge, Oxfordshire
| Curbridge | |
| Oxfordshire | |
|---|---|
 St John the Baptist parish church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP329082 |
| Location: | 51°46’19"N, 1°31’24"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 529 (2011) |
| Post town: | Witney |
| Postcode: | OX29 |
| Dialling code: | 01993 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | West Oxfordshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Witney |
| Website: | curbridge.net |
Curbridge is a village Oxfordshire, found immediately south-west of Witney and separated from it by the unforgiving course of the A40. It is in the valley of the River Windrush, in the south-west of the county.
The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 529.
History and archaeology
A Romano-British settlement existed here, a short distance northeast of Manor Farm: the remains were found when the Witney Bypass was being built in the 1970s. Foundations were found of rectangular timber-framed buildings, some with limestone rubble foundations.[1] A cemetery was found, containing 18 burials. There may have been more, but if so they are now beneath the bypass. Most of the bodies lay with their heads pointing east or north. Three of the adults had been beheaded, and were laid with their heads between their legs. This was a burial practice in the late Roman and early Anglo-Saxon eras. It is not known whether beheading was the cause of death or was done posthumously.
In a later phase of settlement, a midden covered the cemetery.[1] Artefacts found included a whetstone made from local limestone, a copper alloy brooch, a copper finger ring, a bronze Roman coin from the reign of the Roman usurper Magnentius (AD 350–353), fragments of Romano-British pottery, and clusters of hobnails showing where leather footwear had rotted away in the ground.[1]
Caswell Farm, three-quarters of a mile south-west of the village, is a moated farmstead that includes remnants of a 15th-century house.[2] It is a Grade II* listed building.[3]
In the mid-1970s the Witney Bypass was built to allow the A40 trunk road to pass south of Witney. It was built through Curbridge parish, only 100 yards or so north of the village.
Parish church
A Church of England chapel was built in Curbridge in 1838 and the Gothic Revival architect Clapton Crabb Rolfe added an apse in 1874.[4] In 1906 the chapel was demolished and replaced with the present parish church, St John The Baptist.[2][5]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Curbridge, Oxfordshire) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Chambers, Harman & Wilson 1976, pp. 38–56.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 567.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1048993: Caswell House, Caswell Farmhouse and attached outbuilding (Grade II* listing)
- ↑ Saint 1970, p. 99.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1368232: Church of St John the Baptist (Grade II listing)
- Chambers, R.A.; Harman, Mary; Wilson, Bob (1976). "A Romano-British Settlement at Curbridge". Oxoniensia (Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society) XLI: 38–56. http://oxoniensia.org/volumes/1976/chambers4.pdf. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
- Saint, Andrew (1970). "Three Oxford Architects". Oxoniensia (Oxford Architectural and Historical Society) XXXV: 53–102. http://oxoniensia.org/volumes/1970/saint.pdf. Retrieved 3 November 2009.
- Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, 1974 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09639-2
- A History of the County of Oxford - Volume 14 pp 190-225: Witney and its Townships (Victoria County History)
