Population 937 (2011 census) Civil parish Great Shefford Ceremonial county Berkshire Area 13.6 km² Dialling code 01488 UK parliament constituency Newbury | OS grid reference SU3875 Unitary authority Region South East Local time Thursday 12:31 PM Post town Newbury | |
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Weather 14°C, Wind NW at 19 km/h, 63% Humidity | ||
Great Shefford (or West Shefford) is a village and civil parish on the River Lambourn in West Berkshire, England. The modern civil parish includes the historical parish of Little or East Shefford, a much-lessened small neighbourhood downstream. The parish also includes the village of Shefford Woodlands, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest of Great Shefford and near M4 junction 14.
Contents
- Map of Great Shefford Hungerford UK
- Demography
- Toponymy
- Amenities
- Public transport
- Roads
- St Mary
- St Stephen
- St Thomas
- References
Map of Great Shefford, Hungerford, UK
Demography
The 2001 Census recorded a parish population of 896, and 880 are listed on the Millennium Stone opposite the petrol station. The population grew by approximately 5% in the ten years to 2011.
Toponymy
The toponym of both Sheffords is derived from the Old English for "sheep ford".
Amenities
Great Shefford village has a parish church, public house, school, shop and petrol station.
Public transport
Service 4 (Newbury-Lambourn) serves Great Shefford. From 1898 until 1960 Great Shefford railway station on the Lambourn Valley Railway served the parish. The nearest main line station is in central Newbury, with a journey time to London Paddington from 50 minutes to 67 minutes.
Roads
The A338 between Hungerford to the south and Wantage to the north runs through the village, one and a half miles north of Junction 14 on the M4 motorway.
St Mary
The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary is one of two existing round-tower churches in Berkshire. The other one is at St Gregory's parish church at nearby Welford.
Unlike the three round-towered churches in Sussex, where the towers are plain flint cylinders with few openings, the tower at Great Shefford is built up of sections with ample fenestration, more like the East Anglian type. The base of the tower at least seems to date from the 13th century, and it joins the west wall of the nave in such a way that suggests it was constructed at the same time as the nave, which shows early gothic features.
St Stephen
The church of Saint Stephen at Shefford Woodlands is a former Methodist chapel that was consecrated as part of St Mary's Church of England parish in 1911.
St Thomas
St Thomas' Church, East Shefford contains important monuments to the widespread Fettiplace family.