Coordinates: 51°27′22″N 1°24′43″W / 51.456°N 1.412°W / 51.456; -1.412

Welford, Berkshire

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Welford
Village and civil parish
St. Gregory's parish church and the rear of Welford Park House
Welford is located in Berkshire
Welford
Welford
Location within Berkshire
Area20.39 km2 (7.87 sq mi)
Population513 (2011 census)[1]
• Density25/km2 (65/sq mi)
OS grid referenceSU4073
Civil parish
  • Welford
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNewbury
Postcode districtRG20
Dialling code01488
PoliceThames Valley
FireRoyal Berkshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Berkshire
51°27′22″N 1°24′43″W / 51.456°N 1.412°W / 51.456; -1.412

Welford is a rural village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England occupying both sides of the valley of the River Lambourn north-west of Newbury and south of Wantage. It forms a strip parish which tapers in the south where it contains the hamlet of Halfway. It incorporates Welford Park with its annual snowdrop displays. The M4 motorway passes through the parish, but has no junctions within it. RAF Welford, a munitions depot used by the United States Air Force, is to the north of the village.

Notable buildings

Welford Park house

The history of the manor is long. It was held by Abingdon Abbey for centuries until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Overlordship was for some decades after in the hands of the Crown, and was attached to the manor of Benham Lovell, while the overlordship of the vill of Easton Welford was attached to the manor of East Greenwich. Its history included a share held by Thomas Knyvet and within 20 years was sold to Francis Jones in the 1600s. It descended in the same family to the Mason, Archer and Houblon branches. The main vestige is the rebuilt manor house at Welford Park, which can be visited for its woodlands and early spring displays of snowdrops.[2] It was described in a county history and geography of 1924 as a "large modern red brick building, surrounded by a medieval deer park of 200 acres (81 ha). It is the property of the lord of the manor, Col. G. B. Archer-Houblon, but...the residence of Major R. P. Cobbold."[2]

Saint Gregory's church

The Church of England parish church of St Gregory is one of only two existing round-tower churches in Berkshire, the other being St Mary's at Great Shefford which adjoins the parish to the north-west. The church is a Grade II* listed building.[3]

Transport

The village was formerly served by Welford Park railway station on the Lambourn Valley Railway, but the line closed to passenger traffic in 1960 and to freight traffic, to and from RAF Welford, in the 1970s. The station site is now a car park for visitors to Welford Park. The village is situated midway between junctions 13 and 14 of the M4.

Demography

2011 Published Statistics: Population, home ownership and extracts from Physical Environment, surveyed in 2005[1]
Output area Homes owned outright Owned with a loan Socially rented Privately rented Other km2 roads km2 water km2 domestic gardens Usual residents km2
Civil parish 62 52 31 53 11 0.349 0.139 0.202 513 20.39

References

  1. ^ a b Key Statistics: Dwellings; Quick Statistics: Population Density; Physical Environment: Land Use Survey 2005
  2. ^ a b 'Parishes: Welford', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4 ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 116-125. Accessed 16 December 2014.
  3. ^ Historic England (6 March 1985). "Church of St Gregory (Grade II^) (1117225)". National Heritage List for England.

External links

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