Down Ampney

Down Ampney
Gloucestershire
All Saints, Down Ampney
Location
Grid reference:	SU098971
Location:	51°40’23"N, 1°51’32"W
Data
Postcode:	GL7
Local Government
Council:	Cotswold
Parliamentary constituency:	The Cotswolds

Down Ampney is a small village in the very south of Gloucestershire, standing beside the border with Wiltshire. The population taken at the 2011 census was 644.

The village is off the A417 which runs between Cirencester and Faringdon (the latter in Berkshire) on the A420, and about three miles north of Cricklade, Wiltshire.

Parish church

The parish church is All Saints, which was founded by the Knights Templar in 1265, though much of its current shape is the result of a Victorian rebuilding. The striking spire dates to the 14th century, when the south porch was added. There is a Memorial Window at All Saints Church, Down Ampney, which commemorates those who served at RAF Down Ampney, in particular in commemoration of those which flew from the airfield for the Battle of Arnhem of 1944.

History

Down Ampney was notable in mediæval times as one of the principal seats of the powerful Hungerford family (their principal seat was at Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset) and a number of elaborate family monuments survive in the village church.

The Down Ampney estate, comprising almost all of the farm land in the parish, is now owned by the Co-operative Group.

The Old Vicarage in Down Ampney was the birthplace of Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1872. A tune he composed, used for the hymn "Come Down, O Love Divine", is titled "Down Ampney" in its honour.

During the Second World War, the RAF Down Ampney airfield was a base for planes seeing active service in the war.

Sport and leisure

Aside from the airfield, a school older than 150 years, a multi-use games area for younger residents, a tennis club, a village hall, a small village shop.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Down Ampney)

• Down Ampney Parish Council
• Completely Cotswold
• UK Genealogy Archives
• photos on Rootsweb
• [Down] Ampney in the Domesday Book

References

• 
  Ampney Brook
• 
  East House
• 
  The Masons Arms inn
• 
  War memorial