Besselsleigh

Besselsleigh or Bessels Leigh is a village and civil parish about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south-west of Oxford. Besselsleigh was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred to Oxfordshire.

The village is just off the A420 road between Oxford and Swindon.

History

Besselsleigh is almost certainly the Lea or Leigh owned by a Saxon named Earmund in the 7th century. The manor of Leigh passed to the family of a Thomas Bessels in the mid 14th century, and by the next century the village had acquired its present toponym.^[2]

The Church of England parish church of Saint Lawrence existed by the 12th century, and the west wall, Norman south door^[3] and possibly some other parts survive from this time.^[2] The church was rebuilt in the latter part of the 13th century,^[2] which is the date of the Decorated Gothic west window of the nave and east window of the chancel.^[3] Most of the other windows are Perpendicular Gothic:^[3] that in the north wall of the chancel form the 14th century and others in the church from the 15th century.^[2] In 1632 William Lenthall paid for St. Lawrence's church to be "beautified and repaired".^[2] The font is 17th century and the pulpit is 18th century.^[3]

Amenities

Besselsleigh has a public house, the Greyhound. The Greyhound is in the coat of arms of the Lenthall family who used to own Besselsleigh Hall.^[4]

Parklands Campus (formerly known as Bessels Leigh School and Spires School) at the edge of the village is an independent special school for boys and girls aged 11 to 16, run by children's charity Action for Children.^[5]

References

Sources

• Page, W.H.; Ditchfield, P.H., eds (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. pp. 393–398. 
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 86. 

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Besselsleigh Besselsleigh] at Wikimedia Commons