Waterperry

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Waterperry
Oxfordshire

St Mary the Virign parish church
Location
Grid reference: SP6305
Location: 51°45’11"N, 1°5’28"W
Data
Population: 170  (2001[1])
Post town: Oxford
Postcode: OX33
Dialling code: 01865
Local Government
Council: South Oxfordshire
Parliamentary
constituency:
Henley
Website: Waterperry

Waterperry is a village and parish beside the River Thame in Oxfordshire, about seven miles east of Oxford, adjacent to the county border with Buckinghamshire. The ancient parish is divided into the townships of Waterperry and Thomley, the latter now a deserted village. Both townships formed separate civil parishes from 1866 to 1995 when they were reunited into a single civil parish of Waterperry with Thomley.

The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin is partly Saxon and has notable mediæval stained glass, sculptural memorials, Georgian box pews and memorial brasses.[2]

Waterperry House is a 17th-century mansion, remodelled early in the 18th century for Sir John Curson and again around 1820.[3] It is now a house of seven bays and three storeys with a balustraded parapet and Ionic porch.[3]

The house has extensive grounds, and until 1971 housed the Waterperry School of Horticulture under Beatrix Havergal. The gardens are now a horticultural business and visitor destination, Waterperry Gardens.[4] The eight acres of gardens flower from May until the first frosts. The gardens also include rose and alpine gardens, which include the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens collection of Kabschia Saxifrages, a formal knot garden, trained fruit and nursery beds and a riverside walk. The grounds also include nurseries, orchards, plant centre and teashop. Gardening courses are still taught here. The grounds host the annual Art in Action festival of art and craft each July.[5]

References

Sources and further reading

  • Lobel, Mary D, ed (1957). A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 5: Bullingdon Hundred. Victoria County History. pp. 295–309. 
  • Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 826–828. ISBN 0-14-071045-0. 
  • Todd, John (1969) [1955]. J.S. ed. Waterperry Church (2nd ed.). 

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Waterperry)

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