Population 913 (2011 Census) Civil parish Kingham Country England Local time Tuesday 10:04 AM Dialling code 01608 UK parliament constituency Witney | OS grid reference SP2624 Region South East Sovereign state United Kingdom Shire county Oxfordshire District West Oxfordshire | |
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Weather 11°C, Wind W at 14 km/h, 89% Humidity | ||
Kingham is a village and civil parish in the Cotswolds about 4 miles (6.4 km) southwest of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 913.
Contents
Map of Kingham, Chipping Norton, UK
Parish church
The Church of England parish church of St Andrew has a 14th-century Perpendicular Gothic west tower with a 15th-century top. The chancel was rebuilt in 1688. In 1852–53 the church was heavily restored and the south aisle was added. The tower has a ring of eight bells, all cast in 1924 by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough. The church is a Grade II* listed building.
Both The Rectory and the Old Rectory Cottage are 17th century.
Economic and social history
Building of the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OW&W) along the Evenlode Valley began in 1845 and was completed in 1853. It passes through the western part of Kingham parish but originally there was no station. In 1855 the Chipping Norton Railway was opened linking Chipping Norton with the OW&W 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Kingham village where new station, Chipping Norton Junction, was opened. In 1862 the Bourton on the Water Railway opened between Chipping Norton Junction and Bourton-on-the-Water. The Great Western Railway took over the OW&W in 1862 and the Chipping Norton and Bourton lines in 1897. In 1909 the GWR renamed the junction station "Kingham". In 1962 British Railways closed the branch lines to Chipping Norton and Bourton-on-the-Water. BR later replaced the historic Kingham railway station building with a modern one.
In 1955 the Royal Navy named a Ham-class minesweeper HMS Kingham after the village.
Amenities
Kingham railway station is now served by Cotswold Line trains between London Paddington, Oxford, Worcester and Hereford.
The village has two public houses: The Plough which is beside one of the village greens, and The Tollgate which was built in 1720 as a farmhouse and is now called The Wild Rabbit. The village has a hotel called The Mill House
The village has a county primary school. The private Kingham Hill School is 1 1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) north of the village.
Kingham has a village shop and post office, a Royal British Legion club, a village hall, two village greens, a children's play park and a football field.
Kingham is twinned with the village of Pont-à-Marcq near Lille in France.
In 2004 a Country Life panel judged Kingham to be "England's Favourite Village".
Blur bass-player Alex James lives on a sheep and dairy farm outside the village and chronicles the experience in his column in The Independent.