West Hanney

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Coordinates: 51°37′59″N 1°24′54″W / 51.633°N 1.415°W / 51.633; -1.415
West Hanney
West Hanney

 West Hanney shown within Oxfordshire
Population 496 (2001 census)[1]
OS grid reference SU4192
Civil parish East Hanney
District Vale of White Horse
Shire county Oxfordshire
Region South East
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Abingdon
Postcode district OX12
Dialling code 01235
Police Thames Valley
Fire Oxfordshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK Parliament Wantage
Website TheHanneys
List of places
UK
England
Oxfordshire

West Hanney is a village and civil parish about 3 miles (5 km) north of Wantage. Historically West and East Hanney were formerly a single ecclesiastical parish of Hanney.[2] East Hanney was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire.

Archaeology

In September 2009 a metal detecting club held its annual rally at a site in the parish.[3][4] One detectorist found a Saxon grave from early in the 7th century AD[4] containing the skeleton of a young woman with grave goods including one spindle whorl, two iron knives and two ceramic pots that may have contained food.[5]

Near the grave the detectorist found an ornate circular Saxon metal brooch inlaid with gold,[4][6] garnets[4][5] and coral.[5] This type of brooch was previously known from Kent, East Anglia, Essex and Bedfordshire[7] but the one from West Hanney is further west than all previously found examples,[7] making it "a find described as of national importance".[5] It has yet to be determined where the brooch may have been made.[7]

Also yet to be determined is whether the young woman belonged to the local Saxon Gewisse tribe.[7] She was about 25 years old when she died,[5][7] and shortly after her grave was discovered an osteologist said that her skeleton would be examined to try to determine her cause of death.[5]

Parish church

The village had a parish church by the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 but the earliest part of the present Church of England parish church of Saint James the Great dates from about 1150.[2]

The tower has a ring of six bells.[8] Abraham I Rudhall of Gloucester[9] cast five of them in 1702,[8] but Charles and George Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry[9] cast the other in 1856.[8] St. James' has a Sanctus bell that Robert I Wells of Aldbourne[9] cast in about 1760.[8] There is another small bell that Charles and George Mears cast in 1858, but this is currently unused.[8]

A Georgian rectory was completed in 1724.[10] It is now West Hanney House.[10]

Amenities

West Hanney has a public house, the Plough Inn[11] free house. It had another called The Lamb, until it closed in 2008. It has re-opened in 2011 as the Hanney Spice Indian restaurant and take-away.

References

  1. ↑ "Area selected: Vale of White Horse (Non-Metropolitan District)". Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 January 2011. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Page & Ditchfield, 1924, pages 285–294
  3. ↑ Welch, Peter (2009). "Saxon Grave". Weekend Wanderers Detecting Club. Weekend Wanderers Detecting Club. Retrieved 5 October 2011.  — detailed photographic report on the excavation
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Ancient skull unearthed on farm". BBC News. BBC Online. 21 September 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 "Archaeologists reveal secrets of Saxon burial grave at West Hanney". The Oxford Times. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
  6. ↑ "8. The West Hanney Saxon Skull and Brooch". Treasure Island — the best archaeological finds in Britain. The Independent. September 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 "Open day to feature Anglo-Saxon brooch". News. Oxfordshire County Council. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Davies, Peter (3 May 2011). "W Hanney S James Gt". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 7 October 2011. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Dovemaster (25 June 2010). "Bell Founders". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved t October 2011. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Pevsner, 1966, page 293
  11. ↑ The Plough Inn

Sources

External links

Media related to West Hanney at Wikimedia Commons

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