Longcot

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Longcot
Longcot (Oxfordshire)
Longcot

Longcot shown within Oxfordshire
Population 574 (2001 census)
OS grid reference SU273909
District Vale of White Horse
Shire county Oxfordshire
Region South East
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town FARINGDON
Postcode district SN7 7
Dialling code 01793
Police Thames Valley
Fire Oxfordshire
Ambulance South Central
European Parliament South East England
UK Parliament Wantage
List of places: UKEnglandOxfordshire

Coordinates: 51°36′58″N 1°36′18″W / 51.616, -1.605

Longcot is a small village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse district in the south-west of Oxfordshire (though formerly in Northern Berkshire). It is located 1 mile SE of the A420 road between Swindon and Oxford, 4 miles (6 km) SSW of Faringdon and 3 NE by E of Shrivenham.

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[edit] Geography

Located in a wide bend of the nascent River Ock, Longcot is situated in archetypal low-lying vale landscape, the outlook being dominated by the scarp of the Lambourn downs a few miles to the south.

Until Dutch elm disease denuded the village in the early 1970s, Longcot had many mature English Elms gracing hedgerows and gardens.

The Civil Parish of Longcot occupies an area of 1894 acres (7.66 km²) and was in the County of Berkshire until the Local Government Act 1972 enacted in 1974.

[edit] History

Longcot (or, until 20th century, Longcott) was in the Shrivenham Hundred, with the majority of land and the manor belonging to Viscount Barrington.

For most of its history Longcot was an agricultural community, but population growth in early 19th Century began with the arrival of the Wilts and Berks Canal in 1805 and the construction of the Longcot Wharf (the busiest wharf on this section of the canal, due to its proximity to Faringdon). The village population declined in line with the loss of commercial traffic on the canal to the Great Western Railway, completed in 1841. Commercial traffic on the canal ceased completely in 1902.

The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin was constructed in the 13th Century, but with one exception all the windows are later insertions. The original west tower collapsed in 1721 (while the bells were being rung) and was rebuilt in 1722. Four stone urns, mounted on iron spikes at each corner of the tower, were removed in the late 1970s for safety reasons.

Longcot has had a church school since 1717, the original building in the SW corner of the churchyard paid for by voluntary subscription. The current school building, built in 1969 opposite The Green on Kings Lane, replaced a previous building on the same site constructed in 1874.

[edit] Population

The following data has been taken from historical Census information in the public domain.

Year Total Male Female Households
1871 494 229 265 110
1881 393 198 195 92
1891 310 162 148 77
1901 256 139 117 65
1911 334 169 165 77
1921 295 146 149 71
1931 264 139 125 76
1941 No Census Taken
1951 285 143 142 88
1961 337 173 164 102
1971 446
1981
1991
2001 574 290 284 220

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links