Milcombe 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 ...

about southwest of

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshir ...

, Oxfordshire. Pronounced ''Mill-Comb-Bee''. Milcombe is famous for its village shop. Originally called ‘John’s shop’ or More officially, ‘New Road Stores’ but is now called ‘Best-one’.

History

The Church of England parish church of

Saint Laurence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roma ...

was built in the 13th century, but little survives from this period except the west

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifi ...

. The font is 15th century. In the 19th century the building was in very poor condition, so in 1860 the Gothic Revival architect

G.E. Street George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford, London, Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Gothic Revival architecture, Vi ...

, rebuilt the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

and most of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. The parish benefice is now combined with those of

Bloxham Bloxham is a village and civil parish in northern Oxfordshire several miles from the Cotswolds, about southwest of Banbury. It is on the edge of a valley and overlooked by Hobb Hill. The village is on the A361 road. The 2011 Census recorded ...

and South Newington. Milcombe House was a large 17th-century house. Most of it was demolished in 1953, but a small part has been retained as a farmhouse. Some outbuildings of the hall survive: an 18th-century

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

and part of the 17th century stables. By about 1875 the

Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway The Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway (B&CDR) was a railway company through the Cotswolds in England that built a line between points near Banbury and Cheltenham. Its principal objective, as well as a general rural rail service, was the conve ...

had been built through the parish. It passed very close to the village in a

cutting Cutting is the separation or opening of a physical object, into two or more portions, through the application of an acutely directed force. Implements commonly used for wikt:cut, cutting are the knife and saw, or in medicine and science the scal ...

at the foot of Fern Hill. The nearest station was

, away. British Railways closed Bloxham station in 1951 and closed the Banbury and Cheltenham railway completely in 1964, but the disused cutting beside Milcombe village remains.

Amenities

Milcombe has a 17th-century

public house 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 wa ...

, the Horse and Groom. The village hall is converted from a set of 17th-century cottages. Milcombe has a village shop. In 2009 a

Women's Institute The Women's Institute (WI) is a community-based organisation for women in the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. The movement was founded in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada, by Erland and Janet Lee with Adelaide Hoodless being the ...

was founded in Milcombe.

References

Sources

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External links

{{authority control Milcombe Civil parishes in Oxfordshire