OS grid reference SU564960 Country England Post town ABINGDON-ON-THAMES Shire county Oxfordshire Civil parish Clifton Hampden | Region South East Sovereign state United Kingdom Postcode district OX14 District South Oxfordshire UK parliament constituency Henley | |
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Burcot is a hamlet in Oxfordshire, England on the left bank of the River Thames, in the civil parish of Clifton Hampden. Until 1932, it lay in the civil parish of Dorchester.
Contents
Map of Burcot, Abingdon, UK
Facilities
Burcot lies on the main road from Dorchester to Abingdon, now the A415. Bus services are confined to schooldays.
The village has a thatch-roofed pub, The Chequers, which has been developed into a restaurant, but no retail facilities. The nearest shopping centre is in Dorchester, less than two miles away.
The former school is now a private house. The nearest primary school and church are at Clifton Hampden. Burcot is home to the business that developed the search engine "Ask Jeeves".
Governance
The village belongs to Clifton Hampden and Burcot parish, whose population was recorded in the 2011 Census as 662. It has been part of the South Oxfordshire local-government district since Henley Rural District was incorporated into it in 1974.
Heritage
In the 17th century Burcot was an important transhipment point on the Thames. The river at that time had become almost unnavigable between Oxford and Burcot, so that goods for Oxford had to be unloaded at Burcot and taken on by road. This led in 1605 to the formation of the Oxford-Burcot Commission to improve navigation.
The village, lying mainly between the main road and the Thames, became a desirable Thames-side residential area in the late 19th century. Almost all the earlier housing was pulled down. The only survivors today from before the Victorian era are the Grade II listed Old Cottage, thought to be Tudor, and the 16th-century pub premises. No other building dates from before 1888.
The poet laureate John Masefield lived at Burcote Brook from 1932 until his death in 1967. Shortly afterwards, the house burnt down and was replaced by a Cheshire Home, now named after John Masefield.