Kennington, Berkshire
| Kennington | |
| Berkshire | |
|---|---|
 Present (right) and former (left) St Swithun's parish churches | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP5202 |
| Location: | 51°43’1"N, 1°15’0"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 3,881 (2001) |
| Post town: | Oxford |
| Postcode: | OX1 |
| Dialling code: | 01865 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Vale of White Horse |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Oxford West and Abingdon |
| Website: | Kennington Online |
Kennington is a village in the northern Berkshire, found by the River Thames south of Oxford. The village occupies a narrow stretch of land between the Thames and the A34 dual carriageway.
Kennington was partly in South Hinksey parish and partly in Radley parish until 1936, when a new Kennington civil parish was constituted. Apart from the village, most of Kennington civil parish is wooded, including all of Bagley Wood and West Wood to the west of the village.
Manor house
The manor house is Jacobean, built in 1629 during the Great Rebuilding of England.[1] It is half-timbered, i.e. its upper storey is timber-framed but its lower storey is not. In this case the lower storey is of local limestone.[1]
Parish churches
The Parish of St Swithun has two churches. The first is a very early example of the Norman revival, designed by the architect Daniel Robertson and built in 1828.[2] The second was built alongside it in 1956-58, designed by a local architect, T Lawrence Dale, and the vicar, Rev S S Davies.[2] The earlier, 1828 building is now deconsecrated.
The village
Kennington has a public house, The Tandem. The village has a health centre, three shops, a post office, a pharmacist and a village school, St Swithun's.
There are two sports fields: Playfield Road and Forest Side. Playfield has recently been fitted with floodlights to enable training after sunset.
Over the last few years there has been a great increase of building development in the village. This is to allow more housing. The developments are all large houses with large gardens which have been turned into flats. The two exceptions are the new houses at the site of the former public house The Scholar Gypsy (named after the local poet, Matthew Arnold) and flats on the site of the former Kennington Service Station. Recent developments include Strode Court, and Chestnut Place on Kennington Road, to the north of the village. A new development has been completed at the site of Cranbrook House in the south of the village on The Avenue.
Outside links
References
Sources & further reading
- Page, W.H.; Ditchfield, P.H., eds (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. pp. 410–416.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 159–160.