| Filkins | |
|---|---|
 Formerly The Lamb | |
  Filkins Location withinOxfordshire | |
| OS grid reference | SP238041 |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Lechlade |
| Postcode district | GL7 |
| Dialling code | 01367 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Filkins & Broughton Poggs |
| |
Filkins is a village in thecivil parish ofFilkins and Broughton Poggs, in theWest Oxfordshire district, in the county ofOxfordshire, England. It is about 2.5 miles (4 km) southwest ofCarterton.
TheGothic Revival architectG. E. Street designed theChurch of England parish church ofSaint Peter, and it was built in 1855–57.[1] The parish is now part of thebenefice of Shill Valley and Broadshire.
TheMethodistchapel was dedicated in 1833.[2]
Filkins was historically achapelry in theancient parish (and civil parish from 1866) ofBroadwell.[3] It became a separate civil parish in 1866,[4] on 25 March 1886 the parish was abolished and merged with Broadwell.[5] On 26 March 1894 Filkins became a civil parish again, being formed from part of Broadwell, and was withinWitney Rural District. On 1 April 1954 the civil parish was merged with the parish ofBroughton Poggs to form the civil parish of Filkins and Broughton Poggs, part ofWest Oxfordshire since 1974.[6] In 1951 the parish had a population of 371.[7]
Swinford Museum occupies a 17th-century cottage in Filkins and stands alongside the former village lock-up. George Swinford founded the museum in 1931 with the help of Labour politician and landownerStafford Cripps.
Stafford Cripps worked with architectPercy Richard Morley Horder and the local stonemason George Swynford on the provision of council housing in the village. Cripps insisted that the new buildings should be of stone and stylistically in keeping with local vernacular traditions, meeting the difference in cost for the council housing, re-opening quarries on his own land to provide building. This was recorded inCountry Life. As a result, by 1944 Filkins was being hailed as 'a modernised village' and 'an illustration of contemporary village planning', in an article inCountry Life byChristopher Hussey.[8]
In 2007 the Filkins estate, whichJohn Cripps (son of the post-war Labour minister Stafford Cripps) bequeathed upon his death in 1993, but which had been partly passed over to theErnest Cook Trust[9] since then, was fully transferred to the Trust's portfolio. The Filkins Estate is on the county boundary between Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire and includes one 500 acres (200 ha) farm and a number of cottages, with a small area of commercial units housing the Cotswold Woollen Weavers and Filkins Stone Company.
Filkins has apublic house, the Five Alls.[10] The village has an outdoor swimming pool owned by the Centre Trust which was established by Sir Stafford Cripps under the control of the parish council (acting as trustees). The pool, now managed by the Filkins Swimming Club, is open from May until September.[11] Next to it are the village shop, post office andbowls club. A large 18th-century barn is now the premises of Cotswold Woollen Weavers, which set up business there in 1982, and is the last company in the area to uphold the traditions of woollen cloth design and manufacture.[12] Filkins has a theatre club.[13] The former village school is now a pre-school nursery.[14]
Media related toFilkins at Wikimedia Commons
