Marcham

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Coordinates: 51°39′58″N 1°20′38″W / 51.666°N 1.344°W / 51.666; -1.344
Marcham

All Saints' parish church
Marcham

 Marcham shown within Oxfordshire
Population 1,811 (2001 census)[1]
OS grid reference SU4596
Civil parish Marcham
District Vale of White Horse
Shire county Oxfordshire
Region South East
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Abingdon
Postcode district OX13
Dialling code 01865
Police Thames Valley
Fire Oxfordshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK Parliament Wantage
Website Marcham Parish Council
List of places
UK
England
Oxfordshire

Marcham is a village and civil parish about 2 miles (3 km) west of Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.

Archaeology

In Trendles Field behind the former Noah's Ark Inn, in the extreme south-west of the parish, the remains of an Iron Age and Roman village have been excavated.[2] Evidence has been found of round huts and grain storage pits, to which a celtic religious shrine was later added.[2] At the end of the first century AD a stone-built Romano-British temple was built on the site of one of the huts and a smaller stone building, possibly a shrine, was built on the site of the Iron Age shrine.[3] The temple seems to have remained in use well into the 5th century.[2]

This site is subject to an ongoing Oxford University research project, with excavations being made each July. In 2009 it was announced that the remains of a possible amphitheatre had been found.[4]

History

The toponym Marcham is derived from the Old English Merceham, in which ham is a homestead and merece is a place where wild celery grows.[5][6]

The tower of the Church of England Parish Church of All Saints dates from early in the 13th century. It has a ring of six bells.[7] The remainder of the church was rebuilt in 1837.[8]

Amenities

Marcham has a Church of England Primary School.[9]

The National Federation of Women's Institutes has Denman College, its residential adult education college, in Marcham.[10]

Marcham Football Club[11] plays in North Berks Football League Division Two.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "Area: Marcham CP (Parish): Parish Headcounts". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 22 March 2010. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Pevsner 1966, p. 146
  3. ↑ Pevsner 1966, p. 147.
  4. ↑ "The Vale and Ridgeway Project". School of Archaeology, University of Oxford. Retrieved 18 May 2009. 
  5. ↑ "Domesday place-names of Berkshire". Archived from the original on 15 July 2007. Retrieved 6 April 2008. 
  6. ↑ "Royal Berkshire History - Marcham". Retrieved 6 April 2008. 
  7. ↑ "Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers, Old North Berks Branch". Retrieved 18 May 2009. 
  8. ↑ "Francis Frith - Marcham". Retrieved 6 April 2008. 
  9. ↑ "Marcham C of E Primary School". Retrieved 18 May 2009. 
  10. ↑ "Women's Institute - About Denman College". Retrieved 6 April 2008. 
  11. ↑ "Marcham Football Club". Retrieved 18 May 2009. 
  12. ↑ "North Berks League Division 2". North Berks Football League. Retrieved 18 May 2009. 

Sources and further reading

  • Hingley, R (1985). "Location, Function and Status: a Romano-British ‘religious complex’ at the Noah’s Ark Inn, Frilford (Oxfordshire)". Oxford Journal of Archaeology 4 (2): 201–214. 
  • Page, W.H.; Ditchfield, P.H., eds. (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. pp. 354–360. 
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 146, 176, 177. 

External links

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