Gosford is a village immediately southeast of Kidlington,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, England. It is in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Gosford and Water Eaton Gosford and Water Eaton is a civil parish in the Cherwell district of the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is north of the city of Oxford and is crossed nearby by two major roads for, or by-passing, the city. The parish contains the village of G ...

. The 2011 Census recorded Gosford and Water Eaton's parish population as 1,373.

History

Gosford seems to have been a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

of the parish of Kidlington until 1142, when the

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

of Gosford was granted to the Order of

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

. The Order held it until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. In the 16th century Gosford was administered with Water Eaton. The

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

"Gosford" is derived from Old English and means "goose Ford (crossing), ford". It was recorded as ''Goseford'' in 1242–46 and ''Goseforde'' in 1316. There has been a bridge across the River Cherwell at Gosford since at least 1319, when it was recorded in a patent roll. In 1395 it was recorded as ''Gosefordebrugge''. In the 16th century the antiquarian John Leland (antiquary), John Leland noted that it was a stone bridge. In the 17th century the Cartography, cartographer John Ogilby recorded it as ''Offord Bridge''. In the 17th century ''"Mr. Richard Washington, gent"'' (died 1670) maintained a school at Gosford. In 1838 a penny post station was opened in Gosford. There was a full General Post Office, post office by 1847 that remained until 1853. Gosford and Water Eaton civil parishes were merged in 1932. In the same year a Secondary school#England and Wales, secondary school, Kidlington Church of England Central School, was founded in Gosford. It is now Gosford Hill School.

Amenities

Gosford has an 18th-century pub, the King's Arms, in Bicester Road. It is now a Miller & Carter steakhouse. Gosford also has a Sainsbury's, J Sainsbury supermarket with a filling station.

Public transport

Stagecoach in Oxfordshire bus route S5 and Diamond South East, Diamond bus route 250 serve Bicester Road. Route S5 is a direct service between Oxford and Bicester that runs seven days a week. Route 250 also links Oxford and Bicester, but runs via various villages including Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, Upper Heyford. Route 250 runs from Mondays to Saturdays, mostly at hourly intervals. It has no late evening service, and no service on Sundays or bank holidays. Numerous Oxford Bus Company and Stagecoach bus routes serve Oxford Road, which forms Gosford's western boundary with Kidlington Garden City. Buses that serve Bicester Road or Oxford Road link Gosford with Oxford Parkway railway station, which is at Water Eaton, about south of Gosford.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Gosford and Water Eaton Parish Council
{{Oxfordshire-geo-stub Villages in Oxfordshire Kidlington