Leafield
| Leafield | |
| Oxfordshire | |
|---|---|
 St Michael's parish church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SP316152 |
| Location: | 51°50’7"N, 1°32’33"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 945 (2011) |
| Post town: | Witney |
| Postcode: | OX29 |
| Dialling code: | 01993 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | West Oxfordshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Witney |
| Website: | leafieldparishcouncil.org |
Leafield is a village about four miles north-west of Witney in Oxfordshire. The parish includes a little hamlet, Langley, a mile west of Leafield village. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 945..
History
There are a number of tumuli in the parish, including Leafield Barrow, locally called Barry's Hill Tump, on top of the hill just to the north of the village.[1] Leafield Barrow also has archaeological evidence for being the site of a mediæval motte-and-bailey castle called Leafield Castle, sited to give it a commanding view of the village. There are visible earthworks]] present which would add to the castle's defensive capability.[2] The castle is believed to form a similar shape to that of Ascot d'Oilly Castle.[3]
The parish is within the former limits of the Wychwood forest. The area of forest south of Langley was cleared in 1857–58, leaving straight, regular field boundaries typical of the 18th and 19th century enclosures.[4] The village has the remains of a mediæval preaching cross.[5] The steps and lower part of its base are old.[5] A new Gothic Revival shaft and top were added in 1873 in thanksgiving for the village escaping a smallpox epidemic.[5] King James I stayed at Langley in August 1605.[6]
Leafield was a dependent chapelry of the ecclesiastical parish of Shipton-under-Wychwood until the 19th century. Leafield's Church of England parish church of St Michael and All Angels was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, built in 1859 and consecrated in 1860. The bell tower was completed in 1874[7] and has a ring of six bells, all cast that year by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough.[8] St Michael's is now a member of the Forest Edge Benefice.
Leafield Technical Centre
A large radio transmission station was sited at Langley from 1912 until 1986.[9] British Telecom redeveloped the site as a training college, but then closed the site in 1993.[9] It was then used by Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) as a motorsport development centre for the Arrows Formula One team,[9] until the team's demise in the 2002 season. From the 2006 season until the 2008 season Leafield Technical Centre was the headquarters of the now-defunct Super Aguri F1 team. Menard Competition Technologies was based at Leafield Technical Centre in 2011.
About the village
Leafield has two public houses: The Fox and The Pearl. The Pearl used to be the Potter's Arms, the Spindleberry and the Navy Oak; it is now a Chinese restaurant, takeaway and bar.
The Wychwood Way, a 37 miles circular walking trail, passes through Leafield Lower End.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Leafield) |
References
- ↑ "Site Name: Leafield". Oxfordshire's Historic Archives. Ashmolean Museum. http://historicoxfordshire.ashmolean.org/SitePages/leafield.html.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1008405: Leafield (Scheduled ancient monument entry)
- ↑ "Leafield Barrow". Bibliography of castles. http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English%20sites/4638.html.
- ↑ Taylor 1982, pp. 145–146.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Marples 1973, p. 307.
- ↑ John Nichols, The Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities, of King James the First, vol. 1 (London, 1828), p. 529.
- ↑ Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 682.
- ↑ Davies, Peter (7 January 2009). "Leafield S Michael & All Angels". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Leafield&numPerPage=10&Submit=Go&searchAmount=%3D&searchMetric=cwt&sortBy=Place&sortDir=Asc&DoveID=LEAFIELD.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 "The BT Radio Station". Leafield Village. 2010. http://www.leafieldvillage.co.uk/bt_radio_station.html.
- Marples, B.J. (1973). "The Mediæval Crosses of Oxfordshire". Oxoniensia (Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society) XXXVIII: 307.
- Saint, Andrew (1970). "Three Oxford Architects". Oxoniensia (Oxford Architectural and Historical Society) XXXV: 98.
- Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire, 1974 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09639-2page 682
- Taylor, Christopher (1982). Fields in the English Landscape. Archaeology in the Field Series. London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd. pp. 145–146. ISBN 0-460-02232-6.