Watlington, Oxfordshire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Watlington | |
  Watlington shown within Oxfordshire |
|
| Population | 2,900 |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | |
| - London | 43.2mi |
| Parish | Watlington |
| District | South Oxfordshire |
| Shire county | Oxfordshire |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WATLINGTON |
| Postcode district | OX49 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Henley |
| List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire | |
Watlington is a market town and civil parish in the county of Oxfordshire, UK, with just under 3,000 inhabitants. The parish is located in the Chiltern Hills approximately halfway between Oxford and Reading, Berkshire. Also in the parish are the villages of Cuxham, Greenfield and Christmas Common. The M40 motorway, which links London to Birmingham, is only two and a half miles from the town centre.
The famous walking route, the Icknield Way (an ancient route from Cromer in Norfolk to Avebury in Wiltshire), passes the town along the dry, high ground to the east, and Watlington is a convenient location to begin walks along it, with Watlington Hill and its "White Mark" a popular stopping point.
 View from Watlington town centre towards the Chilterns, with the 'white mark' visible |
The Watlington White Mark was originally designed by local squire Edward Horner, who felt that the Norman church of St Leonard, when viewed from his home, would appear more impressive if it looked as though it had a spire. He had this unusual folly cut into the chalk of Watlington Hill in 1764. It is 270 feet tall and 36 feet wide.
Aside from this the most striking feature of Watlington is its town & market hall in the centre of the town, which was built in 1665 to serve originally as a boys' grammar school.
 Watlington Town / Market Hall (westerly aspect) |
 Watlington Town / Market Hall (southerly aspect) |
The Watlington area is likely to have been settled at an early date, encouraged by the proximity of the Icknield Way. The placename means 'settlement of Waecel's people' and this indicates occupation from around the 6th century. A 9th-century charter mentions eight 'manses' or major dwellings in Watlington and the Domesday survey of 1086 identifies the area as being an agricultural community valued at £610. The Town also has an Anglo-Saxon Church which forms an integral part of the town's architecture and functionality.
It also is famous for the former Great Western Railway branchline from Watlington to Princes Risborough. An oddity of this branch line is that Watlington Station was that it stopped short of the Town, in an isolated field around a mile from Watlington Town itself. The station site remains as does the carriage shed, station building (although very overgrown) and the brickwork of the goods shed. The line has been comprehensively documented in two volumes entitled Country Branchline - An Intimate Portrait by Paul Karau and Chris Turner, published by Wild Swan Press.
Watlington was also a site used in the English Civil War for housing troops: it is thought that John Hampden stayed in the town the night before the Battle of Chalgrove Field.
The local MP for Watlington is Boris Johnson (Conservative).
Watlington Hill is a great place for observing the previously endangered birds of prey: Red Kites, which were introduced into the area in the 1990's.
