Cornwell is a small 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 ...

about west of Chipping Norton in the West Oxfordshire district of

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 ...

, near the county border with

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. The 2001 Census recorded the parish's population as 66.

Manor

Cornwell was listed in 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1096 as "Cornewelle" in the ancient

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

of Shipton. The manor house dates from the 16th or 17th century, with a dining room and library panelled in about 1640 and 17th century stables and

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

. It was the home of Sir Thomas Penyston, 1st Baronet and his family occupied the house until the 19th century. A new front was built onto the house in about 1750, and the drawing room has a fireplace in the style of

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...

. In 1939 the architect Clough Williams-Ellis, who had designed Portmeirion in north

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, restored the house, added a ballroom and laid out the gardens. The house is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter was originally Norman, and the

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

arch survives from this time. Most of the windows are Decorated Gothic and

Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...

additions. The church was rebuilt in 1830 and 1882, when the present west window was added. The south door has a porch with a

sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

. The church is a Grade II* listed building. The church is part of the parish of Little Compton, along with the churches of Chastleton, Daylesford and Little Rollright. The parish is part of the Team

Benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

of Chipping Norton, along with the parishes of Chipping Norton with Over Norton, Churchill and Kingham.

Economic and social history

Some of the cottages in the village are 17th century. In 1939 Williams-Ellis remodelled all the cottages in Cornwell and remodelled the former village school in neo- Georgian style as the village hall.

References

Sources

External links

{{Authority control Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Villages in Oxfordshire West Oxfordshire District