Siddington 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 ...

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 ...

, England. It is located immediately south of

Cirencester Cirencester ( , ; see #Pronunciation, below for more variations) is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames. It is the List of ...

. At the

2011 United Kingdom Census A Census in the United Kingdom, census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Inter ...

, the parish had a population of 1,249. There is evidence of

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

inhabitation of the area. Situated adjacent to

Ermin Way Ermin Street or Ermin Way was a Roman road in Britain. It linked Glevum (Gloucester) and Corinium (Cirencester) to Calleva ( Silchester). At Glevum it connected to the road to Isca (Caerleon), the legionary base in southeast Wales. At Cori ...

, the

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

connecting present-day

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

and

Silchester Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading. Silchester is most notable for the archaeological site and Roman town of ...

, Siddington has multiple examples of

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

settlements. The village was mentioned 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 ...

, and parts of the church are

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

. During the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, the

Thames and Severn Canal The Thames and Severn Canal is a canal in Gloucestershire in the south-west of England, which was completed in 1789. It was conceived as part of a cargo route from Bristol and the Midlands to London, linking England's two largest rivers for bet ...

was built through the parish, followed by the Cirencester branch line and the

Swindon and Cheltenham Extension Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' ...

in the 1840s and 1880s respectively. Siddington is located near the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

AONB An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

, and parts of the

Cotswold Water Park The Cotswold Lakes (formerly known as Cotswold Water Park) is the United Kingdom's largest marl lake system, straddling the Wiltshire–Gloucestershire border, north-west of Cricklade and south of Cirencester. There are 180 lakes, spread ...

SSSI A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland, is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

are within the parish.

History

Pits,

sherd This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

s, and flint are evidence of

inhabitation of the Siddington area. Beaker pottery found in the area suggests

Early Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

activity, and various earthworks are evidence of

middle Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

use of the area.

, the

connecting

Glevum Glevum (or, more formally, Colonia Nervia Glevensium, or occasionally ''Glouvia'') was originally a Roman fort in Roman Britain that became a " colonia" of retired legionaries in AD 97. Today, it is known as Gloucester, in the English county ...

(

) to

Calleva Atrebatum Calleva Atrebatum ("Calleva of the Atrebates") was an Iron Age oppidum, the capital of the Atrebates tribe. It then became a walled town in the Roman province of Britannia, at a major crossroads of the roads of southern Britain. The modern vi ...

(

) via

Corinium Corinium Dobunnorum was the Romano-British settlement at Cirencester in the present-day English county of Gloucestershire. Its 2nd-century walls enclosed the second-largest area of a city in Roman Britain. It was the tribal capital of the Do ...

(

) forms part of the parish's north-eastern border.

settlements existed near the west border and at the south of the parish. The latter settlement is evidenced by pottery and building debris, as well as discoveries of a well and a coin of

Constantius II Constantius II (; ; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic peoples, while internally the Roman Empire went through repeated civ ...

. Excavation of a third Romano-British settlement, near Ermin Way, uncovered a sherd from a

situla Situla (plural ''situlae''), from the Latin word for bucket or pail, is the term in archaeology and art history for a variety of elaborate bucket-shaped vessels from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages, usually with a handle at the top. All types ...

dating from the Iron Age. The name "Siddington" is derived from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''sūð in tūn'', meaning "south in the farm rsettlement". Siddington was recorded in the

of 1086 as comprising 46 households, putting it in the top fifth of English settlements as regards population. Additionally, it was at that time recorded as lying within the hundred of Cirencester and the county of Gloucestershire. Landowners of Siddington following the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

included Godric,

Leofwin __NOTOC__ Leofwin (or Leofwine; died after 1071) was a medieval Bishop of Lichfield. Appointed to the see by King Edward the Confessor of England, Leofwin was a monk before becoming a bishop.Knowles ''Monastic Order'' p. 71 footnote 2 For a t ...

, and Emma (wife of Walter de Lacy). Alternative spellings have included "Sudintone" and "Suintone", and in the

Domesday Survey 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 1086, the name "Suditone" was used. At this time, Siddington was recorded as having landowners including Roger of Lacy, Hascoit Musard, Humphrey the Chamberlain, and

William fitzBaderon William fitzBaderon (c. 1060/65? – before 1138) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman of Breton descent, who was lord of Monmouth between about 1082 and 1125. He was mentioned in the Domesday Book as being responsible for Monmouth Castle and ten ot ...

. The survey showed that Siddington had at least 17 villagers, 18 smallholders, 13 slaves, and 2 priests, as well as a mill and of meadowland.

Ridge and furrow Ridge and furrow is an Archaeology, archaeological pattern of ridges (Medieval Latin: ''sliones'') and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages, typical of the open field system, open-field system. It is a ...

patterns have suggested agricultural use of the higher land during the

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

period. Geoffrey of Langley inherited the Siddington estate in the 1220s. In the 1780s, during the

, the

was constructed through the parish, and a

flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...

of four locks was built to begin the canal's descent from its summit pound towards the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

; the locks brought the canal down a total of . Immediately west of the top lock was a wharf and basin where a short canal arm led north into Cirencester. Railways arrived in Siddington in 1841, when the Cirencester branch line opened between and . The line did not serve Siddington until 1960, however, when opened across the Kemble parish border. In 1883, the

, later becoming the

Midland and South Western Junction Railway The Midland and South Western Junction Railway (M&SWJR) was an independent railway built to form a north–south link between the Midland Railway and the London and South Western Railway in England, allowing the Midland and other companies' t ...

(MSWJR), opened between and , crossing the canal between the third and fourth locks in the flight. As with the Cirencester branch line, the MSWJR did not give Siddington its own station; the nearest stops on the line were and the Cirencester terminus itself, the latter being nearer at from the village.

John Marius Wilson John Marius Wilson (c. 1805–1885) was a British writer and an editor, most notable for his gazetteers. The '' Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' (published 1870–1872), was a substantial topographical dictionary in six volumes. It was ...

's ''

Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales The ''Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'' is a substantial topographical dictionary first published between 1870 and 1872, edited by the Reverend John Marius Wilson. It contains a detailed description of England and Wales. Its six volumes h ...

'' (1870–72) described how Siddington parish covered , had a property value of £2,777 (), and a population of 474 within 110 households. The manor was part of the Bathurst estate, and as well as the parish church, the village had an independent chapel.

John George Bartholomew John George Bartholomew (22 March 1860 – 14 April 1920) was a British cartographer and geographer. As a holder of a royal warrant, he used the title "Cartographer to the King"; for this reason he was sometimes known by the epithet "the Pri ...

's ''Gazetteer of the British Isles'', published in 1887, noted the size of the parish as and showed that the population had risen to 481. The canal was abandoned in 1927, although through-passage of the Sapperton Tunnel had become near impossible after the 1910s when multiple roof collapses had occurred. Parts of the canal bed in Siddington were later infilled and some areas built upon. The railways were removed in the 1960s; while the decline and closure of the MSWJR preceded it, the Cirencester Branch was a casualty of the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

of the early 1960s.

Governance

As a

, Siddington has a parish council formed of nine councillors as well as a chair and vice-chair, and is part of Siddington and Cerney Rural

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

within

Cotswold District Council The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedro ...

. Since 2024 it has been a part of South Cotswolds constituency represented in Parliament by Dr

Roz Savage Rosalind Elizabeth Adriana Savage (born 23 December 1967), known as Roz Savage, is an English ocean rower, environmental advocate, writer, speaker and politician. She was elected as a Liberal Democrat MP for the new South Cotswolds constituen ...

of the Liberal Democrats. Historically, Siddington was in the

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 Crowthorne and Minety.

Geography

Topography

Siddington is located within the

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, th ...

of the

; the

River Churn The River Churn is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises at Seven Springs, Gloucestershire, Seven Springs in Gloucestershire and flows south for approximately to meet the Thames at Cricklade in Wiltshire. Its length from ...

, the farthest tributary from the river mouth, flows through the parish. The

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

operates a monitoring station near the site of Siddington Mill. Between 2009 and 2012 the classification of fish in the river was "good" or "moderate", and between 2013 and 2016 this fluctuated between "bad", "poor", and "moderate". The

is partly within the parish, and the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is less than northwest of Siddington. Part of the Kemble & Ewen

Special Landscape Area A local landscape designation is a non-statutory conservation designation used by local government in some parts of the United Kingdom to categorise sensitive landscapes which are, either legally or as a matter of policy, protected from developme ...

is within the western extremities of the parish. One designated

brownfield site Brownfield is previously-developed land that has been abandoned or underused, and which may carry pollution, or a risk of pollution, from industrial use. The specific definition of brownfield land varies and is decided by policy makers and l ...

is within the parish, on its east border. Situated on the edge of the

, a

contour line A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, isoquant or isarithm) of a Function of several real variables, function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a ...

at AOD runs through the parish. Here, the Thames and Severn Canal follows the land to act as a

contour canal A contour canal is an artificially-dug navigable canal which closely follows the contour line of the land it traverses, in order to avoid costly engineering works such as: * Digging a cutting or tunnel through higher ground; * Building an embankm ...

on its summit pound west of the Siddington Locks.

Geology

The bedrock geology of Siddington includes the Cornbrash Formation,

Forest Marble Formation The Forest Marble is a geological formation in England. Part of the Great Oolite Group, it dates to the late Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Middle Jurassic, Europe)." In: Weisha ...

Oxford Clay Formation The Oxford Clay (or Oxford Clay Formation) is a Jurassic marine sedimentary rock formation underlying much of southeast England, from as far west as Dorset and as far north as Yorkshire. The Oxford Clay Formation dates to the Jurassic, specific ...

, and the

Kellaways Formation The Kellaways Formation is a geological formation of the Callovian Series from the Jurassic. It is found in the British Isles, immediately above the Great Oolite Series: below the Oxford Clay Formation and above the Cornbrash. It consists of t ...

Superficial deposits Superficial deposits (or surficial deposits) refer to geological deposits typically of Quaternary age (less than 2.6 million years old) for the Earth. These geologically recent unconsolidated sediments may include stream channel and floodplain dep ...

include

Hanborough Hanborough is a civil parish in West Oxfordshire. The parish includes the villages of Church Hanborough (Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its origi ...

gravel and

alluvium Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

Boundaries

The parish of Siddington covers . It is bordered to the north by Cirencester, to the east by Preston and

South Cerney South Cerney is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, 3 miles south of Cirencester and close to the border with Wiltshire. It had a population of 3,074 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 3,464 at the ...

, to the south by

Somerford Keynes Somerford Keynes ( ; ) is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswold District, Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, close to the River Thames and about 5 miles (8 km) from its source. It lies on the boundary ...

, and to the west by Kemble. The River Churn forms part of Siddington's boundary with South Cerney, as does the former

RAF South Cerney Royal Air Force South Cerney or more simply RAF South Cerney is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, Station located in South Cerney near Cirencester in Gloucestershire, England. It was built during the 1930s to cond ...

(now the

Duke of Gloucester Barracks The Duke of Gloucester Barracks is a British Army barracks at South Cerney in Gloucestershire. History The barracks were established on the site of the former RAF South Cerney in 1971, when UK (Support) Postal and Courier Communications Unit, R ...

). Ermin Way (now followed by the course of the

A419 The A419 road is a primary route between Chiseldon near Swindon at junction 15 of the M4 with the A346 road, and Whitminster in Gloucestershire, England near the M5 motorway. The A419 is managed and maintained by a private company, Road Manage ...

) is the parish's north east border.

Climate

The nearest

Met Office The Met Office, until November 2000 officially the Meteorological Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and ...

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasting, weather forecasts and to study the weather and clima ...

is at the

Royal Agricultural University The Royal Agricultural University (RAU), formerly the Royal Agricultural College, is a public university in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. Established in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world. ...

in Cirencester. The average summer high temperature is , and the average winter low is . The average minimum rainfall is per month, with an annual average of 132 rainy days.

Settlements

The parish has three main areas of settlement – the

nucleated village A nucleated village, or clustered settlement, is one of the main types of settlement pattern. It is one of the terms used by geographers and landscape historians to classify settlements. It is most accurate with regard to planned settlements: its ...

centre of Siddington, the small outlying settlement of Upper Siddington, and part of the linear expansion of Cirencester at North Siddington.

Demography

The

reported that the parish had a population of 1,249. Most residents (approximately ) live in Siddington and Upper Siddington, and roughly reside in North Siddington on the Cirencester outskirts. Of the population, 48% were recorded as male and 52% female. The median age of Siddington residents is 48. Ethnically, Siddington is 96.3%

White British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the White population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population was 49 ...

, with a majority of respondents reporting their

national identity National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity ...

as English. Approximately 74% of residents are

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, and 25% claim to follow no religion or did not report their religious beliefs to the census. Fewer than 1% of the population follow

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

Economy

Early industries in Siddington include

brickmaking A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

; the presence of

clay pit A clay pit is a quarry or Mining, mine for the extraction of clay, which is generally used for manufacturing pottery, bricks or Portland cement. Quarries where clay is mined to make bricks are sometimes called brick pits. A brickyard or brickwor ...

s and

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safet ...

is marked on

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

maps of . Siddington formerly had a water-driven corn mill on the Churn, although this was derelict by the 1950s. A windmill was built in the late 18th century to grind corn; the

Mills Archive The Mills Archive was established in 2002 to preserve and protect records of milling heritage and to make them freely available to the public. It is governed by the Mills Archive Trust, which is a charity. It is a nationally accredited archive ser ...

does not note its operational dates but its Grade II listing shows that by the 1980s it was "semi-derelict" and had become known as the Round House. Of the working population of Siddington, the most common employment sector is the wholesale and retail trade. The next most common industries are manufacturing, social work, education, and construction. Within the parish, 18.5% of all businesses lie within the professional, scientific, and technical services sector. Construction accounts for 8.6% of businesses, and 7.4% of companies are business administration and support. The number of VAT registered companies per 10,000

working age The legal working age is the minimum age required by law in each country or jurisdiction for a young person who has not yet reached the age of majority to be allowed to work. Activities that are dangerous, harmful to the health or that may aff ...

population is above both the national average and that of Gloucestershire as a whole. Amenities in the village include a branch of the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

and a public house.

Landmarks

Twenty

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 ...

s are in the village, including the church, the old school house, the Greyhound Inn, the brick arch canal bridge, and the Round House.

Scheduled monuments 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 ...

in the parish include the

tithe barn A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the ...

at Church Farm and part of the Romano-British settlement near Chesterton. Siddington has a

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

within St Peter's Church. It is a plaque dedicated to 13 men killed in 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 ...

. Similarly, the

village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...

was built in 1921 as a

memorial hall A memorial hall is a hall built to commemorate an individual or group; most commonly those who have died in war. Most are intended for public use and are sometimes described as ''utilitarian memorials''. History of the Memorial Hall In the aft ...

to commemorate the war. The

Earl Bathurst Earl Bathurst, of Bathurst in the County of Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. The medieval English word was Botehurst, thought to date at least from the 13th century. Bote is the origination of Battle, although the family ma ...

gave the plot of land to the village for the hall's construction, and recycled stone from an old nearby barn was used for the building.

Transport

The parish is served by

Stagecoach West Stagecoach West is a bus operator providing services in Gloucestershire, Bristol, Swindon, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, North Somerset and Herefordshire, in the West of England, and Monmouthshire in the South-East of Wales. The company is a subsidia ...

bus services 51 (Swindon–Cirencester) and C62 (

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

–

Cirencester College Cirencester College is a sixth form college based in the town of Cirencester in the South Cotswolds. It is a specialist sixth form provider serving communities in Gloucestershire, South Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Oxfordshire. Cirencester Co ...

). Since the removal of the two railway lines in the parish in the 1960s, the nearest railway station has been . The

Cotswold Canals Trust The Cotswold Canals Trust is a British registered charity that aims to protect and restore the Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames and Severn Canal. Formed in 1972, the organisation has a goal to restore navigability on the two waterways betw ...

aims to restore the Thames and Severn Canal (albeit not the Cirencester Arm) which would bring the lock flight through Siddington back in to full operation.

Education

Siddington Church of England Primary School, located in the north west of the parish, is a

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

for students aged 5 to 11. Its three most recent

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

inspections – in 2013, 2017 and 2022 – have returned "satisfactory" or "good" ratings. In 2018, the school adopted academy status and became part of the Corinium Education Trust along with Cirencester Deer Park School and the primary schools in Kemble and Chesterton.

Religious sites

The parish church, in the

Diocese of Gloucester The Diocese of Gloucester is a Church of England diocese based in Gloucester, covering the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire. The cathedral is Gloucester Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Gloucester. It is part of the Province ...

, is dedicated to

St Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the early Christian Church. He appears repe ...

. The church is originally

, and was extended in . It underwent restoration by

Henry Woodyer Henry Woodyer (1816–1896) was an English architect, a pupil of William Butterfield and a disciple of A. W. N. Pugin and the Ecclesiologists. Life Woodyer was born in Guildford, Surrey, England, in 1816, the son of a successful, highly resp ...

in 1864; at this point the church tower was added. Of the Norman church, three original features remain – the south doorway, the

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

, 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. The tower has a

peal In campanology (bell ringing), a peal is the special name given to a specific type of performance of change ringing which meets certain exacting conditions for duration, complexity and quality. The definition of a peal has changed considerably ...

of six bells, all of which were cast by

John Warner & Sons John Warner and Sons was a metalworks and bellfoundry based in various locations in the UK, established in 1739 and dissolved in 1949. Previous businesses A company was founded by Jacob Warner, a Quaker, in 1739 and originally produced water p ...

in 1879: # # # # # # ;

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

in B♭ A church dedicated to

St Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. ...

was demolished in after the amalgamation of its parish with that of St Peter's. Unlike St Peter's, which was overseen by a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

, St Mary's had a rector. In 1928, a

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 ...

was formed between Siddington and Preston; today, the Churnside Benefice covers South Cerney with Cerney Wick, Siddington, and Preston. A

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

burial ground was established in Siddington in 1660, although it is now closed.

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...

a Quaker humourist who had been born in Siddington, was interred within the cemetery.

Sport

Siddington Cricket Club was first mentioned in the 1850s, playing home games at the village

recreation ground A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

until the club folded in the 1950s. It was re-formed in 2017, based in

Ampney Crucis Ampney Crucis is a village and civil parish in the Cotswolds, part of the Cotswold District of Gloucestershire, England. The village is in the Ampney-Coln electoral ward. This ward stretches from Ampney Crucis to Coln St. Dennis in the north. ...

. Siddington Football Club play their home games on the village playing field. The first team competes in Cirencester and District League.

Notable people

* Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen, interior designer and TV personality, lives in the village *

Phoebe Paterson Pine Phoebe Paterson Pine (born 3 December 1997) is a British paralympian and archer. She won gold in the Women's individual compound open at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo. She defeated Jessica Stretton, and Tatiana Andrievskaia, to advanc ...

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

archer, was born in Siddington

Footnotes

References

External links

Siddington Parish Council
{{authority control Civil parishes in Gloucestershire Cotswolds Cotswold District Villages in Gloucestershire