Coleshill 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

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 ...

district of Oxfordshire, England. Coleshill was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The village is beside the River Cole, which forms both the western boundary of the parish and also the county boundary with

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 ...

. Coleshill is about west of the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

Faringdon Faringdon is a historic market town in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, south-west of Oxford, north-west of Wantage and east-north-east of Swindon. It extends to the River Thames in the north; the highest ground is on the Ridg ...

, about east of the Wiltshire town of

Highworth Highworth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, England, about northeast of Swindon town centre. The 2011 Census recorded a population of 8,151. The town is notable for its Queen Anne and Georgian buildings, dating ...

. The village is on the B4019 road that links the two towns. The 2011 Census recorded the population of the parish as 156.

Toponym

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 ...

"Coleshill" is derived 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 c ...

''kollr'', meaning "head", "top" or "hill". It may be that the river was named after the hill, and then "hill" was added as a suffix to "Cole". The earliest known record of it is ''Colleshyll'' in a Saxon will dated 950. 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 manus ...

of 1086 records it as ''Coleselle'' and ''Coleshalle''. A document dated 1220 and included in the '' Book of Fees'' records it as ''Coleshull''. ''Coleshull'' and ''Colleshulle'' were used from the 14th to the 16th century, before the current form came to be used.

Coleshill estate

The

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Coleshill Estate is in the parish. In 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 ...

Coleshill House Coleshill House was a country house in England, near the village of Coleshill, Oxfordshire, Coleshill, in the Vale of White Horse. Historically, the house was in Berkshire but since boundary changes in 1974 its site is in Oxfordshire. The buil ...

, on the estate, was the headquarters of the secret Auxiliary Units, who were to resist

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

forces if the United Kingdom were invaded. Coleshill House burned down in 1952.

Parish church

The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of All Saints are late 12th-century; other parts are 13th-century and the tower is 15th-century. The building was refashioned in the 18th century and restored by Street. In 1708 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 a

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

of five bells for the west tower. In 1884 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 ...

recast the third bell. In 1938 Mears and Stainbank cast a new treble bell to increase the ring to six. All Saints is a

Grade II* 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 Ir ...

Radnor Arms public house, Coleshill, Oxfordshire - geograph

Amenities

Coleshill has an 18th-century

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

, the Radnor Arms.

Notable people

The record producer Sir

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the ...

lived at the former rectory until his death in March 2016. His private funeral was held in All Saints parish church.

Toponym

Coleshill estate

Parish church

Amenities

Notable people

References

Bibliography

External links