Charney Bassett
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Charney Bassett is a village and civil parish, located at grid reference SU381945, 16 miles west of Abingdon, 6 miles north of Wantage and 5 miles east of Faringdon, in the Vale of White Horse district and Gainfield Hundred of the English county of Oxfordshire (formerly in Berkshire).
[edit] History
There has been a settlement here since Anglo-Saxon times. The earliest surviving records of the village history show that there was a grant of land to the Abbot of Abingdon Abbey in 811. The surrounding area was originally largely marshland and the meaning of Charney is 'island in the River Cearn'. This was an alternative name for the River Ock, that runs close by and which supplies the mill stream.
There are also prehistoric remains, however. Just about 1 mile to the north of the village, between Charney and Pusey, lies Cherbury Camp an Iron Age earthworks. It looks like the nearby hill forts, on the Berkshire Downs but is unusual in that it is built on more or less level ground, away from any hill features. Cherbury means 'fort beside the River Cearn'. It is larger than the Uffington Castle hill fort.
[edit] Notable buildings and structures
St Peter's Church has some 12th century parts and a turret containing two medieval chiming bells. Along with the churches of Longworth, Hinton Waldrist, Lyford, Buckland, Pusey and Littleworth, it is part of the benefice of Cherbury with Gainfield.
On the village green, which is opposite the Chequers Inn, stands another medieval relic. It is a stone pillar, mounted upon three steps. It is thought that this may have been a market cross, where goods could be offered for sale at certain times of the year. A sundial was later added to the top and this would have been used as the village time-piece. After the First World War the centre step was replaced with a dressed stone memorial to the fallen, whose names are inscribed thereupon.
Charney Manor is a Grade II listed building. It was built as a grange for Abingdon Abbey, when that establishment owned extensive land around the village. It is now owned by the Religious Society of Friends
Charney Water Mill is also Grade II listed. It is owned by Oxfordshire County Council and leased to the parish council. The machinery is still intact and it has been undergoing restoration by the Vale of White Horse Industrial Archaeology Group, since around 1975.
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