Watchfield
| Watchfield | |
| Berkshire | |
|---|---|
 Watchfield Post Office | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU248904 |
| Location: | 51°36’43"N, 1°38’28"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 2,222 (2001) |
| Post town: | Swindon |
| Postcode: | SN6 |
| Dialling code: | 01793 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Vale of White Horse |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Wantage |
Watchfield is a village in western Berkshire, in the Berkshire Downs about 3 miles southeast of Highworth in neighbouring Wiltshire. Watchfield is about a mile north of the village of Shrivenham. Both villages used to be on the main road between Oxford and Swindon, which route is now diverted to the major A420 road.
Watchfield consists partly of military accommodation for the Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC) and the Conflict Studies Research Centre (CSRC) in the parish, as well as for the Defence College of Management and Technology and Cranfield University across the boundary in Shrivenham.
Local amenities include two pubs, a Post Office, a convenience store and a small range of local shops. There is also a small industrial estate.
Contents
Name of the village
Watchfield's name evolved from the Old English Wacenesfield as it was recorded in the 8th century by way of Wachenesfield in the 11th century Domesday Book, Wachenfeud in the 13th century, and Wachfeld, Wasshyngfeld and Watchyingfeld in the 16th century before reaching its present form.[1]
Parish church
Watchfield was originally part of the Church of England parish of Shrivenham and therefore villagers were required to worship there at St Andrew's parish church.[1]
The new parish church of Saint Thomas was designed by the Gothic Revival architect George Edmund Street in the style of the late 13th century.[2] The building, which was completed in 1858, includes a bellcote and a north aisle.[2] St Thomas's is now part of the Shrivenham and Ashbury Benefice.[3]
Wind farm
A wind farm, owned by the community-owned Westmill Wind Farm Cooperative, came online in March 2008 and was formally opened in May 2008 on the site of the former RAF Watchfield near the village.[4][5] It consists of five 1.3 MW turbines, and is described by its promoters as the United Kingdom's largest community-owned wind farm.
Watchfield Festival 1975
On 23–31 August 1975, a former military site at Watchfield became the location of the "People's Free Festival", which had been held during the previous three years, despite opposition, in Windsor Great Park. The Windsor Free Festivals had been violently terminated by the police in 1974. This new site was offered as an alternative venue due to government embarrassment at previous police actions and was attended by several thousand people. Musicians who performed there included Hawkwind and Vivian Stanshall.
Watchfield Free Festival was the only Free festival to be government-sponsored (with assistance by then-Home Secretary Roy Jenkins), or be given official recognition. A later invasion of Stonehenge for a People's Free Festival was forcibly terminated.
The first Big Green Gathering festival was held at Watchfield in 1994.
Sights about the village
A little over a mile to the north-west of the village is Strattenborough Castle, built in 1792 as both a working farm and an eyecatcher for Coleshill House.[6]
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Watchfield) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Page & Ditchfield, 1921, pages 531-543
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Pevsner, 1966, page 259
- ↑ Shrivenham & Ashbury Benefice
- ↑ Energy4All Press Release, December 5, 2005, Westmill Wind Farm Celebrates Success of Public Share Launch. [14 November 2006]
- ↑ Energy4All Press Release, February 1, 2008. Fresh Wind Farm. Retrieved on March 8, 2008.
- ↑ Strattenborough Castle at Pastscape
Books
- Page, W.H.; Ditchfield, P.H., eds (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. pp. 531–543.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 259.
