| Enstone | |
|---|---|
 St Kenelm's parish church, Church Enstone | |
  Enstone Location withinOxfordshire | |
| Population | 1,139 (parish, includingChalford,Cleveley,Fulwell,Gagingwell,Lidstone, andRadford) (2011 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | SP3724 |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Chipping Norton |
| Postcode district | OX7 |
| Dialling code | 01608 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Enstone Parish Council |
| |
Enstone is a village andcivil parish in England, about 4miles (6.4 km) east ofChipping Norton and 15 miles (24 km) north-west ofOxford city.[2] The civil parish, one ofOxfordshire's largest, consists of the villages of Church Enstone and Neat Enstone, with the hamlets ofChalford, Cleveley,Fulwell,Gagingwell,Lidstone andRadford.[2] The2011 Census put the parish population as 1,139 living in 453 households.[1] It was estimated at 1,256 in 2019.[3]
Enstone takes its name from a standing stone called the Ent Stone, part of the ruins of aNeolithic tomb just off Charlbury Road. The feature, also known as the Hoar Stone,[2][4] is ascheduled monument.[5]
The earliest parts of theChurch of England parish church ofSt Kenelm areNorman, but it has been rebuilt in stages since the 12th century. The southaisle with a four-bayarcade dates from about 1180. The north aisle was added late in the 13th century. It has an arcade that alternates round and octagonalpiers. At about the same time, a newchancel arch was placed in the east wall of the old chancel and the present chancel added east of the previous one. The two-storey south porch was added late in the 13th century. It has octopartiterib vaulting springing from headcorbels.[6]
In about 1450, the south aisle was widened, wide arches being opened on both sides of the former chancel and both aisles extended eastwards to form side chapels beside the new arches. Most of the present windows in the north aisle were added in the 15th or early 16th centuries. Early in the 16th century, achantry chapel with a rib-vaulted ceiling was added on the south side of the later chancel and a wide arch built to link it with the chancel. Little of the chapel remains except thecorbels of the vaulting. Thebell tower was built in the mid-16th century.[6] The side windows of the chancel are alsoTudor.[7]
In 1856, St Kenelm's was restored under the direction of theOxford Diocesan architectGeorge Edmund Street,[6] and thelych gate[7] and west doorway were added. In about 1870, the present east window of the chancel was inserted, along with a window on the corner between the chancel and the north-east chapel.[6] Astained-glass window installed in the north aisle as aFirst World War memorial may have been done byMorris & Co.[7] St Kenelm's is aGrade II* listed building.[8] The tower has aring of six bells.W. and J. Taylor ofLoughborough, Leicestershire, cast the treble, second, third, and fifth bells in 1831,[9] presumably at thefoundry they had at Oxford at that time.John Taylor & Co cast the fourth and tenor bells at their Loughborough foundry in 1961 and 1981 respectively.[9]
East of St Kenelm's church is a medievaltithe barn built forWinchcombe Abbey, aBenedictine monastery inGloucestershire that owned themanor of Enstone. The barn has acruck roof and a date stone of 1382, but its construction manner suggests it is from the late 15th century. It may therefore have been rebuilt at that time, retaining the date stone from an earlier structure.[7] The tithe barn is a scheduled Grade II* listed building.[10] In 1657, an attempt to merge theBenefices of Enstone andHeythrop failed in the face of local opposition.[11] They were finally merged in 1964.[11] In 2001, the Enstone and Heythrop benefice merged with that ofAscott-under-Wychwood,Chadlington, andSpelsbury to form the Chase Benefice.[12] The vicar in the 1960s was Hubert Brasier (1917–1981), father of the UK Prime MinisterTheresa May.[13]
TheWesleyan chapel in Chapel Lane, Neat Enstone, is no longer used for worship.[14] According to John Marius Wilson'sImperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870–1872), there were also Baptist and Roman Catholic congregations in the village at that time.
The primary school in Neat Enstone dates back to 1875.[15][failed verification] The latestOfsted report is positive.[16] Enstone has twopublic houses: theCrown Inn in Mill Lane at Church Enstone, built late in the 17th century and extended in the 20th,[17] and theArtyard Cafe/Pub (previously theHarrow Inn) on the A44 main road at Neat Enstone. Also in Neat Enstone are shops, including apost office andgeneral store and an art gallery,[18] and aretirement home. There is a filling station with a shop and coach-hire services on the main A44 on the south side of the village towards Woodstock. Enstone has aWomen's Institute.[19][20][failed verification]
Enstone Sports Football Club plays at Step 7 level.[21] Enstone is at the junction of two long-established main roads, one betweenOxford and Chipping Norton and the other between Enstone andBicester. Both were onceturnpikes: theAct of Parliament for the latter was passed in 1797. Since the 1920s, the Oxford–Chipping Norton road has been numbered theA44 and the Enstone–Bicester Road theB4030.
RAF Enstone, north-east of Church Enstone, was aBomber CommandOperational Training Unit (OTU) in theSecond World War.[22] It was decommissioned in 1947,[23] and is now the civilianEnstone Aerodrome. The site of the former RAF buildings has been redeveloped as an industrial estate and the north-western perimeter of the airfield turned into apoultry farm.
Enstone in bygone times is described inLifting the Latch, a biography of the farm labourer Mont Abbott, bySheila Stewart.
South-east of Enstone Aerodrome is a disused quarry, now the site of theWhiteways Technical Centre, where theFormula One motor racingAlpine F1 Team is based.[2] The F1 team, then namedBenetton Formula, moved fromWitney to Enstone in 1992.[24]Renault purchased the team in 2000 and in 2002 renamed it as theRenault F1 Team. At the end of 2009,Genii Capital acquired a majority stake in the team with the involvement ofLotus Cars. It was renamed first Lotus Renault GP and then theLotus F1 Team. In 2015, Renault re-acquired the team and named it the Renault Sport F1 Team. The firm announced in 2020 that the team would be renamed again as theAlpine F1 Team from the 2021 season, after its sports-car marque of the same name,[25] winning the2021 Hungarian Grand Prix withEsteban Ocon.[26]
Drivers with the team have won thedrivers' championship four times:Michael Schumacher in1994 and1995, andFernando Alonso in2005 and2006. The team has won theconstructors' championship three times: as Benetton in 1995, and as Renault in 2005 and 2006. The team's car for the 2012 season was named theLotus E20, E20 being a tribute to the team members and their 20-year history and achievements at the Enstone facility.[27]
Thomas Bushell (c. 1593 – 1674) was a servant ofFrancis Bacon who went on to become a mining engineer and defender ofLundy Island for theRoyalist cause during theCivil War.[28] Bushell came to live in Oxfordshire, where he had an estate at Road Enstone. There he found a spring and rock formation which he turned into an attraction as a grotto, and eventually a collection of water-powered special effects ('giochi d’aqua') which became known as 'Bushell's Wells' or the ‘Enstone Marvels’. There is a detailed description inRobert Plot’sNatural History of Oxfordshire (1677), including some engraved illustrations. They were demolished in 1836.[29]
In the 1630sCharles I paid Bushell an unexpected visit there. On a subsequent royal visit (on 23 August, 1636), the rock was presented to QueenHenrietta Maria in a kind ofmasque with music byHenry Lawes, for which Bushell himself provided some verse.[30] A fictionalised account of the masque is included in the historical novelWife to Mr Milton (1942) byRobert Graves.[31] In 1635 Bushell was granted a soap monopoly; in January 1637 he had the grant of the royal mines in Wales.[28]
{{cite book}}:|first1= has generic name (help)
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
