Balscote
| Balscote | |
|---|---|
 The Butchers Arms, with St. Mary Magdalene parish church in the background. | |
  Balscote Balscote shown within Oxfordshire | |
| OS grid reference | SP3941 |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Banbury |
| Postcode district | OX15 |
| Dialling code | 01295 |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Oxfordshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
| Website | Wroxton & Balscote Community Web Site |
Balscote is a village in the civil parish of Wroxton, Oxfordshire, about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Banbury. Its toponym is sometimes spelt Balscott.
Buildings
The earliest features of the Church of England parish church of St. Mary Magdalene include a Norman font and an Early English style window. Most of the present church building is 14th century, in the Decorated Gothic style.[1] St. Mary Magdalene's is now one of eight ecclesiastical parishes in the Ironstone Benefice.[2]
Many of Balscote's buildings are of local Hornton Stone. Priory Farm is a 14th-century hall, extended in the 15th century and modernised in the 17th and 18th centuries. Grange Farm is a 15th- or early 16th-century house, extended and modernised in the 17th and 18th centuries. Both houses may have been built by the owners of nearby Wroxton Abbey.[3]
Balscote has one public house, The Butchers Arms, which belongs to the Hook Norton Brewery.[4]
Since 1997 Balscote Village Hall Trust, a registered charity, has been planning and fund-raising to build a community hall.[5] Work started in October and the Timber Structure was delivered on site, this is expected to be ready by early November 2010 after more than 13 years of Fund Raising and Planning. The Structure is being supplied and built by Timberworks Europe,[6] who specialise in Sustainable, Eco-Friendly Timber Buildings for both Domestic and Commercial use.
Famous residents
- Nicholas de Balscote (died 1320), Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was born in Balscote.
- Alexander Petit (died 1400), one of the dominant figures in late fourteenth century Ireland, was also a native of Balscote. He held many important offices including Bishop of Ossory, Bishop of Meath and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. As was usual at the time he was more commonly referred to, not by his family name, but his birthplace, as Alexander de Balscot.[7] He may have been a relative of Nicholas de Balscote, who is known to have appointed several family members to important positions in Ireland, or they may simply have shared a birthplace.
Sources
- Lobel, Mary D.; Crossley, Alan, eds. (1969). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 9. pp. 171–188.
- Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin. pp. 428–429. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
References
- ↑ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 428
- ↑ St Peter's Church Hanwell: The Ironstone Benefice Churches Archived 18 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, pages 428-429
- ↑ The Butchers Arms Archived 13 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Balscote Village website
- ↑
- ↑ O'Flanagan, J. Roderick Lives of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland London 1870
Balscote Methodist church
Balscote in the snow
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Balscote. |
- Balscott in the Domesday Book
