Berinsfield is an English 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 ...

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a planned move to Didcot, the district's largest town. The a ...

, about southeast 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 ...

. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 2,806.

History

Palaeolithic and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

artefacts were found during 20th century excavations to build the village. The

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

between Dorchester-on-Thames and Alchester runs through the centre of Berinsfield. An

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

cemetery was also found at Berinsfield. The village is on the site of RAF Mount Farm, a satellite of RAF Benson, initially used to train bomber pilots. It was later taken over by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

, who used it as a reconnaissance base. From here stars including

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with ...

Dorothy Lamour Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton; December 10, 1914 – September 22, 1996) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for having appeared in the '' Road to...'' movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing ...

and

Glenn Miller Alton Glen Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band founder, owner, conductor, composer, arranger, trombone player and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the US Army Air Forc ...

took off to entertain the troops in Europe. Miller performed for the US service personnel at the base in December 1944 before his fateful flight from

RAF Twinwood Farm Royal Air Force Twinwood Farm or more simply RAF Twinwood Farm is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located north of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. For the majority of World War II, the airfield was home to RAF night fighters. Roya ...

which disappeared ''en route'' to Paris. After

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the disused airbase was occupied by squatters, some of whom stayed for over a decade until, in 1957, the Air Ministry sold the airfield for civilian use.

Bullingdon Rural District Bullingdon Rural District was a rural district in Oxfordshire, England from 1932 to 1974, covering an area to the south-east of the city of Oxford. The district was created on 1 April 1932 under a County Review Order, as a merger of Wheatley ...

Council decided to build a new council estate to be named after

Birinus Birinus (also ''Berin'', ''Birin''; – 3 December 649 or 650) was the first Bishop of Dorchester and was known as the " Apostle to the West Saxons" for his conversion of the Kingdom of Wessex to Christianity. He is venerated as a saint ...

or Berin, a local saint. The word 'field' was added because the Americans called their base an airfield. Many new residents at that time lived in the former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

huts until brick-built houses were constructed on the site. Berinsfield is the first English village to be built on virgin land for more than 200 years. It was designed by the architect and town planner

William Holford William Graham Holford, Baron Holford, (22 March 1907 – 17 October 1975) was a British architect and town planner. Biography Holford was educated at Diocesan College, Cape Town and returned to Johannesburg. From 1925–30 he studied archi ...

in 1960. 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 ...

Saint Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

and Saint Berin was designed by Rev. Harold Best, vicar of Dorchester, and built in 1962.

Amenities

Berinsfield has a primary school, a public library, The Abbey Sports Centre, a row of shops including a post office. Berinsfield Football Club previously played in the Reading Football League but have since transferred to the North Berks Football League as a result of their position in Oxfordshire. There is a Berinsfield Amateur Boxing Club. Berinsfield has a Women's Institute. Berinsfield also had a youth club, Berry Youth Club, for 10 to 21-year-olds.

Thames Travel Thames Travel is a bus operator serving the southern part of the English county of Oxfordshire. It is based in Didcot and is a subsidiary of the Go-Ahead Group. In May 2011 the Go-Ahead Group bought Thames Travel. Branded routes River Rapid ...

bus routes X38, X39 and X40 indirectly serve Berinsfield. Between them they give the village links to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

and Wallingford seven days a week and also

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckin ...

from Mondays to Saturdays.

Gallery

File:Berinsfield mainroad.jpg, Part of Fane Drive, the main road within the village File:Berinsfield houses.jpg, Houses in the northeast part of Berinsfield

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Berinsfield Parish Council
* {{authority control Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Villages in Oxfordshire