| West Ginge | |
|---|---|
 West Ginge and farmland | |
  West Ginge Location withinOxfordshire | |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Wantage |
| Postcode district | OX12 |
| Dialling code | 01235 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Ardington and Lockinge Parish Council |
| |
West Ginge is ahamlet within thecivil parish ofArdington in theEnglish county ofOxfordshire (formerlyBerkshire), 3.9 miles (6.3 km) by road to the southeast ofWantage. West Ginge is immediately next to the hamlet of East Ginge, which is contained within the parish ofWest Hendred. West Ginge is more populous than East Ginge, which is dominated by farm buildings, and the two hamlets are often simply referred to as Ginge.
Achalk stream Ginge Brook begins in the hamlet, which continues northward toSutton Courtenay andSteventon to join the River Thames nearAbingdon.[1]
Ginge Manor or Ginge Manor House is amanor house that became aGrade II listed building on 25 October 1951.[2] It is the family seat of theViscount Astor and is currently occupied byWilliam Astor, 4th Viscount Astor and his wifeAnnabel Astor, Viscountess Astor, who is the mother ofSamantha Cameron, the wife of the former BritishPrime MinisterDavid Cameron.[3][4] The estate includes a "magnificent manor" house and servant quarters, which is a "humble" three bedroom cottage, amongst several other features including several barns and old farm cottages.[5]
Several of the barns in the area have been converted into residences. The estate has gardens, an outdoor swimming pool and a tennis court. The current manor house dates to the early 17th century, square and is built from red brick,[6] with an early 18th-century cross-wing on the left side and a 20th-century extension on the right wing.[2] The rear has a six-panel door framed with woodenDoricpilasters. The interior features a "dog-leg staircase with barley-sugar twist and fluted balusters, moulded handrail and panelleddado."[2]
A manor at Ginge was mentioned in theDomesday Book of 1086 and stated to be under the patronage ofAbingdon Abbey, and both were then and for many centuries afterwards part of the county ofBerkshire.[7] In the time of the Saxons the lands belonged to three proprietors of the name of Selva, Topius, and Borda; and at the General Survey to Robert de Gernon, or Grino, whose son and heir was William de Montfitchet, Head of the Barony of Stansted.[8]
Upon his death, in the reign ofHenry II, William's son Gilbert de Montfitchet was said to have "granted half the Manor of Ginges (with the exception of the outer wood called Westfrid) with all itsappurtenances to God and Saint Mary, Saint John the Baptist, and the poor of the holy house of the Hospital of Jerusalem, and the brethren in the same house, serving God, in free and pure alms", meaning that he ceded half of the manor to the church.[8] His son Richard, seems to have given the Brethren the other part of this Manor, for inKing John's Confirmation Charter it says, "The Vill of Ginnges with the Church and all its appurtenances."[8]
During the time ofEdward I andEleanor of Castile in the 1260s it was known to have been owned by Robert, son of Andrew le Blund.[9] It is mentioned again in 1431, when it was owned by Alice, the wife of Walter Gyffard, who passed it onto her son William Gyffard upon her death on 24 April 1431.[10] In 1614, the manor was sold by Sir John Horton and his wife Lady Jane, daughter of Serjeant Hanham of Wimbourne for £1400 to Minister Benedict Winchombe of Noke, Oxfordshire.[11] Ginge was accidentally bombed inWorld War II by a German bomber. The pilot believed that he was unloading ammunition onto open countryside after an attack onLondon, but instead struck houses in the hamlet.
The District of theVale of White Horse | ||
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