Bishopstone is a 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 the
Swindon unitary authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
of
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, England, about east of
Swindon, and on the county border with
Oxfordshire. Since 1934 the parish has included the village of
Hinton Parva.
Bishopstone lies on the north slope of the
Lambourn Downs, overlooking the
Vale of White Horse
The Vale of White Horse is a local government district of Oxfordshire in England. It was historically a north-west projection of Berkshire. The area is commonly referred to as the 'Vale of ''the'' White Horse'. It is crossed by the Ridgeway N ...
. It is between
Wanborough and
Ashbury on the historic
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 ...
. The village has a public house, the ''Royal Oak'', and a number of thatched cottages, centred on a mill-pond.
The village is often used as a base for walkers on the
Ridgeway National Trail
The ancient tree-lined path winds over the downs countryside
The Ridgeway is a ridgeway or ancient trackway described as Britain's oldest road. The section clearly identified as an ancient trackway extends from Wiltshire along the chalk r ...
. The Ridgeway above Bishopstone is a byway open to motor vehicles between April and October.
On the downs above Bishopstone are medieval field systems known as
lynchet
A lynchet or linchet is an Terrace (earthworks), earth terrace found on the side of a hill. Lynchets are a feature of ancient field systems of the British Isles. They are commonly found in vertical rows and more commonly referred to as "strip lyn ...
s
and many other historic earth-workings.
References
External links
Bishopstone & Hinton Parva– parish website
{{authority control
Civil parishes in Wiltshire
Villages in Wiltshire
Borough of Swindon