Welford, Berkshire

Welford is a rural village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England occupying both sides of the valley of the River Lambourn north-west of the town of Newbury and south of the Oxfordshire town of Wantage. It forms a strip parish which tapers in the south where it contains the hamlet, Halfway. It has Welford Park which has annual snowdrop displays, the M4 motorway (which runs across the parish, but has no junctions within it) and RAF Welford.

Welford

St. Gregory's parish church and the rear of Welford Park House
Welford
Location within Berkshire
Area20.39 km2 (7.87 sq mi)
Population513 (2011 census)[1]
• Density25/km2 (65/sq mi)
OS grid referenceSU4073
Civil parish
  • Welford
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townNewbury
Postcode districtRG20
PoliceThames Valley
FireRoyal Berkshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament

Notable buildings

Welford Park house

The history of the manor is long, held by Abingdon Abbey for centuries until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Overlordship was for some decades after in the hands of the Crown, and was attached to the manor of Benham Lovell, while the overlordship of the vill of Easton, Welford was attached to the manor of East Greenwich. Its history included a share held by Sir Thomas Knyvet(t) and within 20 years sale to Francis Jones (Lord Mayor) in the 1600s who was not related. It descended in the same family to the Mason, Archer and Houblon branches.

The main vestige is the wholly rebuilt manor house at Welford Park, which can be visited for its woodlands and early spring displays of snowdrops, is in the village.[2]

It was described in a most detailed county history and geography of 1924 as a "large modern red brick building, surrounded by a deer park of 200 acres (0.8 km2). It is the property of the lord of the manor, Col. G. B. Archer-Houblon, but...the residence of Major R. P. Cobbold."[2]

Saint Gregory's church

The Church of England parish church (to Saint Gregory) is one of only two existing round-tower churches in Berkshire, the other being St. Mary's at Great Shefford which adjoins the parish to the north-west.

Transport

The M4 motorway and RAF Welford, a munitions depot used by the United States Air Force, are within the boundaries. The village was formerly served by Welford Park railway station on the Lambourn Valley Railway, but British Railways closed this line to passenger traffic in 1960 and to freight traffic to and from RAF Welford in the 1970s. The station site is now a car park for visitors to Welford Park's snowdrop displays.

Demography
2011 Published Statistics: Population, home ownership and extracts from Physical Environment, surveyed in 2005[1]
Output areaHomes owned outrightOwned with a loanSocially rentedPrivately rentedOtherkm² roadskm² waterkm² domestic gardensUsual residentskm²
Civil parish62523153110.3490.1390.20251320.39
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References
  1. Key Statistics: Dwellings; Quick Statistics: Population Density; Physical Environment: Land Use Survey 2005
  2. 'Parishes: Welford', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4 ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 116-125. Accessed 16 December 2014.
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