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Kidlington is a major village and
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 authorit ...
in
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, primaril ...
, England, between the
River Cherwell The River Cherwell ( or ) is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises near Hellidon, Northamptonshire and flows southwards for to meet the Thames at Oxford in Oxfordshire. The river gives its name to the Cherwell local g ...
and the Oxford Canal, north of
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and 7 miles (12 km) south-west of
Bicester Bicester ( ) is a historical market towngarden town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in Southern England that also comprises an eco town at North-East Bicester and self-build village aGraven Hill Its loca ...
. It remains officially a village despite its size. The 2011 census put the parish population at 13,723.


History

Kidlington's
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 ...
derives from the
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
''Cudelinga tun'': the ''tun'' (settlement) of the "Kidlings" (sons) of Cydel-hence. The
Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
in 1086 records ''Chedelintone''. By 1214 the spelling ''Kedelinton'' appears in a Calendar of Bodleian Charters. The
Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...
of St Mary the Virgin dates from 1220, but there is evidence of a church on the site since 1073. St Mary's has fine medieval stained glass and a spire known as "Our Lady's Needle". It is a
Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
. The tower has a ring of eight bells. Richard III Chandler of Drayton Parslow,
Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...
, cast the seventh bell in 1700. Abraham I
Rudhall of Gloucester Rudhall of Gloucester was a family business of bell founders in the city of Gloucester, England, who between 1684 and 1835 cast more than 5,000 bells. History There had been a tradition of bell casting in Gloucester since before the 14th century. ...
cast the tenor bell in 1708 and the fifth bell in 1715. Mears and Stainbank of the
Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...
cast the treble, second, third, fourth and sixth bells in 1897, the year of
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria was officially celebrated on 22 June 1897 to mark the occasion of the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. Queen Victoria was the first British monarch ever to celebrate a Diamond ...
. Behind the church are archaeological remains of a three-sided moat. St Mary's Rectory is Tudor. Beside the church are
almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...
s built by Sir William Morton in 1671 in memory of his wife and children, whose names are inscribed above the windows. Sir William was a Royalist Commander in the
Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
and lived in nearby Hampden Manor in Mill Street. Other residents of Hampden Manor have included Sir
John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restora ...
, during the building of
Blenheim Palace Blenheim Palace (pronounced ) is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and the only non- royal, non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, ...
in
Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...
. The square tower-water closet in the front garden of Hampden Manor was built by Vanbrugh. It drains into a brook that now runs underground along Mill Street into the nearby Cherwell. Thomas Beecham formulated his pills while living in a cottage near the manor and worked for a time as a gardener for John Sydenham. The settlement listed in Domesday grew from an ancient village close to the church. It has as many 18th-century Georgian buildings as modern houses. Until the Inclosure Acts in 1818, a large area south of it was unenclosed common land and the village widely known as Kidlington-on-the-Green. The land was built up as a garden city just before the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. In the 1920s and 1930s, Kidlington was subject to
ribbon development Ribbon development refers to the building of houses along the routes of communications radiating from a human settlement. The resulting linear settlements are clearly visible on land use maps and aerial photographs, giving cities and the coun ...
along the main (now A4260) road through the village. Since 1945 many housing estates have been built behind this on both sides. Oxford Zoo was once located in Kidlington, where the
Thames Valley Police Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, coverin ...
headquarters now stands. It was open only from 1931 to 1937, when the animals were transferred to Dudley Zoo. In 2018, an elephant sculpture was installed on a roundabout at the southern end of Kidlington to commemorate the zoo and an elephant that lived there. In the 20th century, Kidlington grew to be a contender for largest village in England (even in Europe), with a population of 13,723, compared with 1,300 in 1901. Its residents have so far resisted efforts to change its official status to a town, though it clearly qualifies as such. After a peremptory change by the Parish Council to town status in November 1987, this was voted down by 83 per cent three months later in a ballot of the local electorate. In June 2016, the BBC reported weekly coachloads of sightseers from China arriving on Benmead Road, Kidlington, who were seen posing for photos in front gardens and against parked cars, with no apparent reason for their interest. The story attracted worldwide interest, with Kidlington locals offering interviews about their experience. In November 2016, after analysing results of a Chinese-language questionnaire given to some tourists, the BBC found that "looking for the true sense" of Britain was one reason for the visits. An investigative journalist found that in fact Chinese tour operators charge $68 extra for Chinese-language tours of nearby
Blenheim Palace Blenheim Palace (pronounced ) is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and the only non- royal, non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, ...
. Tourists who do not want to pay to visit Blenheim are dropped off in Kidlington, which they find charming, but which tour operators select because it is too far from Blenheim to enable tourists to walk to the Palace and pay the cheaper £25 price for public tours in English.


Railways

Kidlington's railway station opened near Langford Lane in 1852 as Woodstock Road Station on the
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
. It was designed by
Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "on ...
. A branch line was added between Kidlington and Woodstock in 1890 and a new Blenheim and Woodstock railway station built at Woodstock, renaming Woodstock Road as Kidlington Station.
British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...
ways closed the station in 1964. The building remained into the 1980s. From the 1980s onwards it has been
Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire County Council is the county council (upper-tier local authority) for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire in the South East of England. It is an elected body responsible for some local government services in the county, incl ...
policy to open a new station on land between Flatford Place and Thorne Close on Lyne Road. This has yet to happen. At Water Eaton, south of the centre of Kidlington, there was a
railway halt A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...
at Oxford Road on the former
Varsity Line The Varsity Line (or the Oxford to Cambridge railway line) was the main railway route that once linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated by the London and North Western Railway. During World War II the line wa ...
. The halt was opened by the
London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...
in 1905 and closed by its successor, the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...
in 1926. In October 2015
Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Rail ...
and
Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's len ...
opened a new
Oxford Parkway railway station Oxford Parkway railway station is a railway station at Water Eaton, Oxfordshire, on the Oxford–Bicester line. Full regular weekday service began on Monday 26 October 2015, although the first passengers travelled the previous day on a Sunday ...
near the site of the former Oxford Road Halt with trains every 30 minutes between
London Marylebone Marylebone station ( ) is a Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network it is also known as London Marylebone and is the southern ...
via and and .


Amenities

Kidlington has about 50 shops, banks and building societies, a public library, a large village hall and a weekly market. There are seven pubs, two cafes and four restaurants. The pubs along the main A4260 through the village are, from north to south, the ''Highwayman Hotel'' (originally the ''Anchor'', then the ''Railway Hotel'', then the ''Wise Alderman'', before being renamed again in 2009), the ''Black Horse'', the ''Black Bull'' and the ''Red Lion'', with the ''King's Arms'' in the Moors and the ''Six Bells'' in Mill Street. The ''Squire Bassett'' was converted into a Nepalese restaurant and renamed the Gurkha Village in 2012. Ovisher Tandoori in Kidlington's main Oxford Road is one of Oxfordshire's longest-running Indian restaurants. There is a secondary school ( Gosford Hill) and a handful of primary schools to deal with the expanding population. Recently Gosford Hill School started a narrow-band radio show for its pupils. Kidlington has a Women's Institute.


Economy

The headquarters of Oxfordshire
Fire and Rescue Service A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish conflagration, hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisd ...
,
Thames Valley Police Thames Valley Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Thames Valley, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It the largest non-metropolitan police force in England and Wales, coverin ...
and the county St. John Ambulance are in Kidlington, as is the UK head office of the European publishing firm
Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as '' The Lancet'', '' Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', ...
and Oxford Airport, renamed London Oxford Airport in 2009 and important to local development. Since 1962 the airport has had a pilot training school for thousands from airlines in more than 40 countries. There are several industrial and business parks and a motor park in the north of the village. Opposite is Langford Locks industrial estate and Oxford Motor Park, with showrooms for
Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
,
Nissan , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun bra ...
,
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
and other makes. Other businesses include Essentra Components,
Eurocopter Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries. Its head office is located at Marseille Provence A ...
and Guylian Chocolates.
Campsfield House Campsfield House was an immigration detention centre located in Kidlington near Oxford, England, operated by private prison firm Mitie under contract with the British government. It was the site of a number of protests from human rights campaigne ...
, an immigration detention centre run for the UK government, is near the industrial area and the airport.


Music

Kidlington has had a brass band since 1892. Earlier bands known from at least the 1850s. The current Kidlington Concert Brass arose from a merger of Kidlington Silver Band and Oxford Concert Brass in 1992. It gives local concerts and competes nationally. Kidlington Amateur Operatic Society (KAOS), founded in 1977, performs varied choral material in the village several times a year and has regular productions of musicals.


Sports

Kidlington Football Club is a semi-professional side founded in 1909. Its first team plays in the Evo-Stik League South Division One Central and its reserve in Uhlsport Hellenic Division One West. It also runs an under-18 youth team that plays in the Allied Counties League and an U16 team. All four are based at a ground in Yarnton Road. The pitch is floodlit, with spectator terracing and seating for 150. In the 2010–2011 season Kidlington first reached the final of the Oxfordshire Senior Cup, where it was beaten by
Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...
at the Kassam Stadium. Kidlington F.C. previously played at other sites in or just outside the village. Kidlington Royals Football Club is a Sunday football team in the Premier Division of the Upper Thames Valley League. It was founded in 2004 and plays home games at Bletchington Sports Ground, just outside Kidlington. It consists of players who play Saturday football, including the Blue Square (football conference), Southern League and the Hellenic Premier Division. In April 2012 it reached the final of the Oxfordshire FA Sam Waters Challenge Cup, losing 3–2 after extra time to Highfield. The club reached the final of the competition again in 2013. Kidlington Old Boys' Football Club, formed in 1999, is currently in the Oxfordshire Senior League Division 1. Its home games are played at Exeter Close. The Gosford All Blacks rugby union team, founded on 15 May 1956, takes its name from the New Zealand All Blacks team, which toured in that season. It remains based in Kidlington. The first team plays in the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Premier League. When founded, the club used the Gosford Hill School pitch and facilities. The ''King's Arms'', the Moors, became its headquarters. In May 1959 the club moved to Langford Lane and in December 1962 became the youngest club to acquire its own clubhouse, after the neighbouring airport donated a hangar for the purpose. Gosford All Blacks held the county rugby shield in the 2011–12 season. Kidlington Cricket Club, founded in 1837, used to play in the '' Oxford Times'' Cherwell Cricket League, but in January 2009 the League voted to expel it for alleged breaches of rules. In the 2010 season, the club began to play in the Oxfordshire Cricket Association (OCA) league. For 1976 to 1998, Kidlington was home base for a motor racing team,
Tom Walkinshaw Racing Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) was a motor racing team and engineering firm founded in 1976, in Kidlington, near Oxford, England, by touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw. The company initially handled privateer work before entering works touring ca ...
, founded by the Scottish driver
Tom Walkinshaw Thomas Dobbie Thomson Walkinshaw (14 August 1946 – 12 December 2010) was a British racing car driver from Scotland and the founder of the racing team Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR). He was also involved in professional rugby union, as owner of ...
. It raced cars that included the Rover Vitesse,
Mazda RX-7 The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine. ...
,
Jaguar XJS The Jaguar XJ-S (later called XJS) is a luxury grand tourer manufactured and marketed by British car manufacturer Jaguar Cars from 1975 to 1996, in coupé, fixed-profile and full convertible bodystyles. There were three distinct iterations, ...
and
Holden Commodore The Holden Commodore is a full-size car that was sold by Holden from 1978 to 2020. It was manufactured from 1978 to 2017 in Australia and from 1979 to 1990 in New Zealand, with production of the locally manufactured versions in Australia endi ...
, while acting as the factory-backed
Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
team in
sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...
and
touring car racing Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition with heavily modified road-going cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States. While the cars do not mov ...
. It went on to win several championships, including the
World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and ...
, the European and the
British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed a ...
s, and some high-profile races, including the
24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...
, the
Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was conceived by Jules de Their ...
and the
Bathurst 1000 The Bathurst 1000 (formally known as the Repco Bathurst 1000) is a touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is currently run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most rece ...
.Bathurst 1985 – Tom Walkinshaw Bio and TWR Story
/ref>


References


Sources

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External links


Kidlington Voice OnlineThis is Oxfordshire website: Kidlington & District Historical SocietyKidlington Recreational Trust Social ClubGosford Hill SchoolKidlington Concert Brass websiteKidlington Amateur Operatic Society websiteKidlington Royals Football Club Official Website
{{authority control Villages in Oxfordshire Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Cherwell District