| Steventon | |
|---|---|
 St Michael and All Angels parish church | |
  Steventon Location withinOxfordshire | |
| Population | 1,485 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | SU465915 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Abingdon |
| Postcode district | OX13 |
| Dialling code | 01235 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Steventon Oxfordshire Village Web |
| |
Steventon (listenⓘ) is a village andcivil parish inOxfordshire, England, about 4 miles (6.4 km) south ofAbingdon and a similar distance west ofDidcot. It lies within the boundaries of thehistoric county ofBerkshire. The2011 Census recorded the parish population as 1,485.[1]
Steventon'stoponym evolved fromStivetune in the 11th century viaEstiventona in the 12th century,Stiveton,Stivington,Estiventon,Stiventon,Stuvinton andSteveington in the 13th century andStephyngton in the 16th century before reaching its present form.[2]
Steventon Priory was founded early in the 12th century in the reign ofHenry I. It was analien priory, controlled by theBenedictineBec Abbey inNormandy. In the 14th century alien priories became unpopular withthe Crown, and in the reign ofEdward III the abbey was allowed to sell Steventon Priory to an English squire, Sir Hugh Calveley.[3]
TheDomesday Book of 1086 records a church in themanor of Steventon.[3] The earliest part of the presentChurch of England parish church ofSt Michael and All Angels is acapital in the southarcade. It is in "stiff-leaf" style,[4] which is anEarly English feature.Page andDitchfield concluded that it dated from about 1220.[3] In the 14th century St Michael's was rebuilt inPerpendicular Gothic style and apparently enlarged for Sir Hugh Calveley. The position of the tower is slightly unusual, on the south side of the nave and combined with the porch. The southaisle is of three and a halfbays, parallelling thechancel and the eastern part of the nave, and having at its west end an arch into the bottom stage of the tower.[3]
St Michael's is aGrade I listed building.[5] Its parish is now linked with those ofDrayton andMilton.[6] The tower has aring of six bells. William Yare ofReading, Berkshire cast the fourth and tenor bells in 1613. Henry I Knight, also of Reading, cast the second bell in 1617. Ellis II Knight and Henry III Knight cast the treble bell in 1674.William Taylor ofLoughborough cast the third and fifth bells in 1849,[7] presumably at the foundry in Oxford that his family ran until 1854.
AWesleyan chapel was built in Steventon in 1861.[3] It is aGothic revival brick building on Oxford Road, near the bridge over the railway and the site of the former railway station. It became SteventonMethodist Church and was used for worship until the early 21st century.[8] By 2009 the church had closed for worship and was advertised for sale.
The Causeway is amedieval cobbled path and former road nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) long running almost east–west through the village linking St Michael's church with the Abingdon –Newbury main road. The south side of the Causeway is lined by houses, a number of which are medievaltimber-framed buildings. Steventon is on what used to be the main road between Oxford, Abingdon and Newbury. The section from Oxford and Abingdon through Steventon toChilton Pond wasturnpiked in 1755.[9] From the 1920s it was classified theA34 road. In the 1970s the A34 was re-routed as adual carriageway bypassing Abingdon, Drayton and Steventon, and the section between Steventon Hill and Abingdon was detrunked and reclassified as theB4017.
The route of the abandonedWilts & Berks Canal passes through the west of Steventon parish, about1+3⁄4 miles (2.8 km) west-northwest of the village. Building had begun in 1796 atSemington Junction in Wiltshire and reached West Challow in 1807.[10] The final section, from West Challow through Steventon to Abingdon, was completed in 1810.[11] There was a SteventonLock in the parish. Traffic on the canal had virtually ceased by 1901 and the route was formally abandoned in 1914.[12] TheWilts & Berks Canal Trust is currently restoring the canal. In June 1840 theGreat Western Railway openedSteventon railway station. It was the main station for Oxford, 10 miles (16 km) to the north, until in 1844 the line fromDidcot toOxford was opened.British Railways closed Steventon station in 1964. The nearest station is now Didcot Parkway, about 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Steventon.
In 1845–46, the African-Americanabolitionist and fugitive slaveHarriet Jacobs stayed for several months at the vicarage with Reverend William Vincent and his wife Anne, sister-in-law of the then-famous American authorNathaniel Parker Willis who employed her as a nanny for his young daughter. The village is mentioned in her bookIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself.[13][14][15]
| Inclosure (Steventon) Provisional Order Confirmation Act 1880 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act to confirm the Provisional Order for the inclosure of certain Lands known as the Common Fields, the Common Meadow Lands, the Cow Common, the Green, the Meres, Baulks, and other waste lands, situate in the parish of Steventon, in the county of Berks, in pursuance of a Report of the Inclosure Commissioners for England and Wales. |
| Citation | 43 & 44 Vict. c. lxxxviii |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 2 August 1880 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Steventon was the last place in North Berkshire to continueopen field farming.Parliament passed theArdington Inclosure Act 1808 (48 Geo. 3. c.74Pr.), aninclosure act for Steventon'scommon land in 1808, but it was not implemented. In 1880 Parliament passed a second act toenclose the parish, theInclosure (Steventon) Provisional Order Confirmation Act 1880 (43 & 44 Vict. c. lxxxviii). The enclosure award was made in 1883 and implemented in 1885.[3]
During a party in the early hours of New Year's Day 2003 Robert Tyrrell, the then landlord of the North Star pub in Steventon, bulldozed part of his own pub after his barman refused to serve him. Tyrrell was sentenced to 200 hours ofcommunity service and fined more than £3,000.[16] The pub was repaired and re-opened by December 2003. The 17th-century timber-framed building is Grade II listed,[17] and its restoration cost Tyrrell more than £100,000. In 2007 the work won aVale of White Horse Design Scheme Award for Andrew Townsend, a local architect fromFaringdon who designed the pub's restoration.[18]
Steventon has threepublic houses: the Cherry Tree[19] controlled byWadworth Brewery, The Fox[20] and the North Star (see above). The North Star retains many 19th-century features, including a serving-hatch instead of a bar, and ale being poured directly from casks instead of drawn by hand pumps from a cellar.[16] Steventon has a bakery, aCo-operative store and avillage hall. Steventon has a Sports and Social Club and the village green has a cricket pitch.[21] The Fox, the North Star and the Sports and Social Club all haveAunt Sally teams that play in the Abingdon and District Aunt Sally League.[22] TheTruck Festival is an annual music festival held near Steventon each July.
![Priory Cottages, 123–127 The Causeway, have 14th-century origins and were developed in the 15th and 16th centuries. They are Grade II* listed.[23]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aPriory_Cottages%2c_Steventon%2c_Berkshire_-_geograph-3725708.jpg)
![39 The Causeway is a late 14th-century timber-framed house, extended in the 15th and 17th centuries. It is Grade II* listed.[24] A cruck frame and an external bread oven are visible in the gable wall nearest the camera.](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCruck_Cottage%2c_The_Causeway_-_geograph.org.uk_-_159923.jpg)
The District of theVale of White Horse | ||
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