The Lockinge Estate is a agricultural and housing estate near

Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the historic county of Berkshire, it has been administered as part of the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire since 1974. T ...

that today includes most of the land and property encompassing the villages of

West Lockinge West Lockinge is a village in Lockinge civil parish, about east of Wantage. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 local authority boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire. The village is included within the North ...

East Lockinge East Lockinge is a village in Lockinge civil parish, about east of Wantage. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 local authority boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire. The village is included within the North ...

and

Ardington Ardington is a village and civil parish about east of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. Since 2012 responsibility for Ardington and the neighbouring ...

. The current manager of the Lockinge Estate is Thomas Loyd. Almost the entire estate is included within the North Wessex Downs

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of ...

(AONB). The ancient

Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, wi ...

passed through the estate, as does the modern-day

National Cycle Route 544 The National Cycle Route 544 is a Sustrans regional route in the North Wessex Downs of southern Oxfordshire, linking Wantage and Didcot. The route is long, and overlaps with part of the ancient Icknield Way and frequently links to The Ridgeway Na ...

History

Following consecutive land purchases the between 1859 and 1870, the estate became one of the largest in England. The estate grew in character under the ownership of Lady Harriet and

Robert Loyd-Lindsay, 1st Baron Wantage Brigadier General Robert James Loyd-Lindsay, 1st Baron Wantage, (17 April 1832 – 10 June 1901) was a British soldier, politician, philanthropist, benefactor to Wantage, and first chairman and co-founder of the British National Society for Aid t ...

, who significantly improved housing and services for the estate workers and attempted to create a worker's model village. Lord Wantage also had Lockinge House extended and renovated, complete with a large ice house and orangery. The estate was modernised under Christopher Loyd following World War Two, who had Lockinge House demolished in 1947, established the Lockinge Stud, and established the Lockinge Trust to provide affordable housing. The Lockinge Trust and the Village Housing Charitable Trust continue to manage housing and historic issues on the estate.

References

Housing estates in Oxfordshire {{Oxfordshire-geo-stub