Besselsleigh
| Besselsleigh | |
 St Lawrence's parish church |
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  Besselsleigh |
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| Population | 87 (2001 Census) |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | SP4501 |
| Civil parish | Besselsleigh |
| District | Vale of White Horse |
| Shire county | Oxfordshire |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Abingdon |
| Postcode district | OX13 |
| Dialling code | 01865 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Oxford West and Abingdon |
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Coordinates: 51°43′N 1°21′W / 51.71°N 1.35°W
Besselsleigh or Bessels Leigh is a village and civil parish about 4 1⁄2 miles (7 km) south-west of Oxford. Besselsleigh was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.
The village is just off the A420 road between Oxford and Swindon. The 2001 Census recorded the parish's population as 87.[1]
Manor
Besselsleigh is almost certainly the Lea or Leigh owned by a Saxon named Earmund in the 7th century. The manor of Leigh passed to the family of a Thomas Bessels in the mid-14th century, and by the next century the village had acquired its present toponym.[2]
Parish church
The Church of England parish church of Saint Lawrence existed by the 12th century, and the west wall, Norman south door[3] and possibly some other parts survive from this time. The church was rebuilt in the latter part of the 13th century,[2] which is the date of the Decorated Gothic west window of the nave and east window of the chancel. Most of the other windows are Perpendicular Gothic:[3] that in the north wall of the chancel from the 14th century and others in the church from the 15th century.[2]
In 1632 William Lenthall paid for St Lawrence's to be "beautified and repaired"[2] and in 1788 William John Lenthall paid for further works on the church.[4] The font is 17th century and the pulpit is 18th century.[3] St Lawrence's is a Grade II* listed building.[4]
Air crash
On March 14 1944 an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley V bomber aircraft, T4337 from No. 10 Operational Training Unit RAF at Abingdon, was on circuits and landings practice when its Royal Canadian Air Force pilot lost control while changing from flare path to instruments. The aircraft crashed onto what was then a military firing range at Great Park Farm, Besselsleigh and almost immediately burst into flames. All three members of its crew were killed.[5]
At the time United States Army soldiers were billeted at Besselsleigh Park. They and a local man, Ron Amey, tried without success to rescue the crew. The pilot, Sgt DC Adamson, is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission section of Botley Cemetery, on the outskirts of Oxford.[5] Ron Amey went on to succeed his father William Amey as head of the Amey quarrying and construction company.
Economy and amenities
Besselsleigh has a public house, the Greyhound. The Greyhound is in the coat of arms of the Lenthall family who used to own Besselsleigh Hall.[6]
Parklands Campus (formerly Bessels Leigh School and Spires School) at the edge of the village is an independent special school for boys and girls aged 11 to 16, run by the charity Action for Children.[7]
See also
- Marcham, where an RAF Armstrong Whitworth Whitley aircraft crashed on a training flight in 1942
References
- ↑ "Area selected: Vale of White Horse (Non-Metropolitan District)". Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
- 1 2 3 4 Page & Ditchfield 1924, pp. 393-398
- 1 2 3 Pevsner 1966, p. 86.
- 1 2 Historic England. "Church of St Lawrence (Grade II*) (1048397)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
- 1 2 Minns, Pat. "Local crashes". RAF Abingdon 10 OTU. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ↑ The Greyhound Besselsleigh
- ↑ Action for Children: Parklands Campus
Sources
- Page, WH; Ditchfield, PH, eds. (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire. Victoria County History 4. assisted by John Hautenville Cope. London: The St Katherine Press. pp. 393–398.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 86.
External links
Media related to Besselsleigh at Wikimedia Commons
