Mongewell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mongewell | |
  Mongewell shown within Oxfordshire |
|
| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| Parish | Crowmarsh |
| District | South Oxfordshire |
| Shire county | Oxfordshire |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WALLINGFORD |
| Postcode district | OX10 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Henley |
| List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire | |
Mongewell is a hamlet in the civil parish of Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire. It is on the east bank of the Thames, and connected to the west by the nearby Winterbrook Bridge. The earthwork Grim's Ditch, now part of the Ridgeway long-distance footpath, passes through Mongewell.
[edit] Mongewell Park
Mongewell Park had previously been home to Shute Barrington, former Bishop of Llandaff.
Replacing the original Georgian Mongewell House of Barrington, a large brick mansion in William and Mary style was built in 1890 for Alexander Frazer whose initials can be seen on the lodge gates (Pedgley and Pedgley, 1990). After Fraser died in 1916, the house became a hospital for wounded offices in the First World War. In 1918, it was sold to an American millionaire Henry Gould who, because he was an atheist, had the lane to the now ruined Mongewell church sunk so that he could not see the parishioners attending service. He sold the house in 1939 and the Royal Air Force occupied it until 1945. In 1942 it became the Head Quarters for No 2 Group RAF of Bomber Command lead by Air Vice Marshal Basil Embry. On the Staff there for six months before his capture as a POW was the World War II night fighter ace, Wing Commander Bob Braham (Braham, 1984).
At the end of the war the house was once more used as a hospital before becoming derelict. A Jewish boarding school, Carmel College, was based at Mongewell Park from 1948 to 1997.
As of June 2007, it is planned to redevelop the site for housing.
[edit] References
- Braham, J.R.D. (1984) Night Fighter, Specially illustrated edition, New York : Bantam Books, p. 186–195, ISBN 0-553-24127-3
- Pedgley, B. and Pedgley, D. (1990) Crowmarsh – A history of Crowmarsh Gifford, Newnham Murren, Mongewell and North Stoke, Crowmarsh History Group, p. 50–54, ISBN 0-9516305-0-4
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