Bourton 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the

Vale of White Horse The Vale of White Horse is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district of Oxfordshire in England. It Historic counties of England, was historically part of Berkshire. The area is commonly referred to as the 'Vale of ''the'' White Hors ...

, England, about southeast of Highworth in neighbouring

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. Bourton was part of the parish of

Shrivenham Shrivenham is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Faringdon. The village is close to the county boundary with Wiltshire and about east-northeast of the centre of Swindon. The 201 ...

until 1867, and was in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

until the 1974 local government boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 326.

Geography

Bourton lies at the western end of the

. The western boundary of the parish is also the county boundary with Wiltshire. In the northwest the boundary follows the River Cole, and in the southwest it follows a stream which joins the Cole.

Manor

Bourton seems to have begun as part of the manor of Shrivenham. Its

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, 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 ...

evolved from ''Burghton'' in the 14th century ''via'' ''Borton'' in the 17th century and has appeared also as ''Burton''. In 1476 George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury was

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

overlord of the manor of Buckand in Over Bourton. The manor had been held by Sir William Lovel, Lord Morley, who died in that year. In 1529 the manor was recorded as being ''"late of Sir Francis Lovell"'', who was attainted in 1485 for supporting

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

and died childless in 1487. The manor was still owned by

the Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

in 1529 but was leased from 1542. From then until 1664 the Hinton family held the manor, but no subsequent record of it is known.

Economic history

At the centre of Bourton village are the remains of a 14th-century stone cross. The base stands on three square stone steps. The top of the cross has been lost but most of the shaft survives. Stone crosses marked a site for either open-air preaching or a regular public market.

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

considers Bourton's cross to be for the latter. It is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

. Bourton's

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

s were enclosed in 1792. After the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

the Swindon – Faringdon main road was classified as the A420. Later in the 20th century the road through Acorn Bridge was widened and realigned to relieve the S-bend by which the road passes under the railway. The westbound carriageway was re-routed through the easterly arch that is no longer used by the canal, and the westerly arch remained in use by only the eastbound carriageway. In 1804–05 the

Wilts & Berks Canal The Wilts & Berks Canal is a canal in the historic counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon. The North Wilts Canal merged with it to become a ...

was extended eastwards from

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

to Longcot. The canal passed through the northern part of Bourton parish, and Bourton Wharf was built beside the main road between Swindon and

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. Its views extend to the River Thames in the north and the highest ground visib ...

. The canal supplied coal mainly from the

Somerset Coalfield The Somerset Coalfield in northern Somerset, England is an area where coal was mined from the 15th century until 1973. It is part of a larger coalfield which stretched into southern Gloucestershire. The Somerset coalfield stretched from Cromh ...

and smaller amounts from the Forest of Dean Coalfield and Moira. Despite railway competition, Bourton Wharf's trade continued to increase until 1848, when 823

long ton The long ton, also known as the imperial ton, displacement ton,Dictionary.com - ''"a unit for measuring the displacement of a vessel, equal to a long ton of 2240 pounds (about 1016 kg) or 35 cu. ft. (1 cu. m) of seawater."'' or British ton, is a ...

s of Somerset coal were landed there. Thereafter however the railway increasingly dominated coal and other freight traffic, and trade at Bourton Wharf declined rapidly. Bourton Wharf had a small revival in the 1860s but in 1876 the wharf received only 27 tons of Somerset coal, which equates to a full cargo for only one

narrowboat A narrowboat is a particular type of Barge, canal boat, built to fit the narrow History of the British canal system, locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, b ...

in the entire year. Bourton Wharf handled small amounts of cargo in the mid-1890s, at least some of which was local traffic to or from

Melksham Melksham () is a town and civil parish on the Bristol Avon, River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about northeast of Trowbridge and south of Chippenham. The parish population was 18,113 at the 2021 census. History Early history Excavations in ...

and

Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Berkshire, it has been a ...

. By this time the Wilts & Berks' maintenance and dredging had deteriorated to the extent that narrowboats could not operate fully laden. In 1901 the Stanley Aqueduct over the

River Marden The River Marden is a small tributary of the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon in England. It flows from the hills surrounding Calne and meets the Avon about a mile upstream of Chippenham. The river has a mean flow of . Course The Marden rises j ...

in Wiltsire collapsed and the little remaining traffic virtually ceased. The Wilts & Berks Canal was formally abandoned in 1914. The

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs between London Paddington and . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. The GWML is presently a part of t ...

railway was built through the parish in 1840, passing just north of Lower Bourton. Shrivenham railway station was opened north-east of Bourton village on the boundary between the two parishes. Acorn Bridge was built for the Great Western in the western part of Bourton parish close to the Wiltshire county boundary. It is a brick bridge, built askew, and is a "double bridge", ''i.e.'' it has two arches. The easterly one spanned the canal and the westerly one spanned the Swindon – Faringdon main road. Shrivenham railway station continued to serve Bourton and Shrivenham until 1964, when

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

ways withdrew all local passenger services between and and closed all intermediate stations including Shrivenham.

Social history

Bourton House was built in 1845. It is now the premises of Pinewood School, a co-educational preparatory school founded in 1875. Cleycourt Manor, formerly known as Bourton Grange, is a Grade II Listed manor house dating back to 1847, built in Jacobean Dutch style, by the Tucker family. The Tuckers endowed the Bourton village school which was built in 1842 It was later extended with the addition of a second classroom. It was still open after 1920 but has since closed. The Tuckers also established six

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held ce ...

s in 1847 and contributed to the rebuilding of the parish church.

Churches

Bourton

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Church was built in 1851 for the owner of Bourton House. It is a

Gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

building, emulating

Decorated Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed a ...

. It is now the village hall. 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 ...

of St James was designed by J.W. Hugall and is another Gothic Revival building.

Page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

and Ditchfield state that it was built in 1881, but

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

states that it was built in 1860. St James' parish is now part of the Church of England Benefice of Shrivenham and Ashbury, which also includes Compton Beauchamp, Fernham, Longcot and Watchfield. Low attendance and a parish deficit of £6,000 per year led the

Diocese of Oxford The Diocese of Oxford is a Church of England diocese that forms part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese is led by the Bishop of Oxford (currently Steven Croft (bishop), Steven Croft), and the bishop's seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, ...

to serve notice at the end of 2003 to make St. James' redundant. Increased attendance and a £2,000 increase in parish income from January 2004 onwards led the Diocese to rescind the notice by June of that year.

Gallery

File:Bourton StJames.JPG, St James' parish church File:Bourton Cross.JPG, Base and shaft of Medieval cross File:Bourton Grange.JPG, Bourton Grange in Lower Bourton File:Bourton School.JPG, Former village school, now a private home File:Double-arch railway bridge over the A420 - geograph.org.uk - 1700202.jpg, Acorn bridge carries the

across the

A420 road The A420 is a road between Bristol and Oxford in England. Between Swindon and Oxford it is a primary route. Route Since the opening of the M4 motorway in the 1970s, the road has been in two sections. The first section begins on Old Market ...

. The carriageway on the right uses the arch that originally spanned the

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Bourton Parish Council
{{Authority control Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Villages in Oxfordshire