Rotherfield Peppard

Rotherfield Peppard
Peppard

All Saints' parish church
Rotherfield Peppard
 Rotherfield Peppard shown within Oxfordshire
Area  7.73 km2 (2.98 sq mi)
Population 1,649 (2011 Census)
   – density  213/km2 (550/sq mi)
OS grid referenceSU710815
Civil parishRotherfield Peppard
DistrictSouth Oxfordshire
Shire countyOxfordshire
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town Henley-on-Thames
Postcode district RG9
Dialling code 01491
Police Thames Valley
Fire Oxfordshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK ParliamentHenley
WebsiteRotherfield Peppard Parish Council
List of places
UK
England
Oxfordshire

Coordinates: 51°31′41″N 0°57′25″W / 51.528°N 0.957°W / 51.528; -0.957

Rotherfield Peppard (often referred to simply as Peppard by locals) is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire. It is centred 3 miles (5 km) west of Henley-on-Thames, 4 1⁄2 miles (7 km) north of Reading, Berkshire and 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Rotherfield Greys. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 1,649.[1]

The area includes Peppard Hill, which is 1⁄2 mile (800 m) west of the centre of the village and adjoins Sonning Common. Peppard Common is public woodland and meadow in between in a ravine. The far east of the parish is a golf course and the far west is Kingswood Common which is also wooded common land.

Toponym

Rotherfield derives from the Old English redrefeld meaning "cattle lands". In the middle of the area is the open-to-the-public land, Peppard Common, once used for grazing and which can be used by parishioners for small timber.

Church and chapel

The Church of England parish church of All Saints was Norman, but was almost completely rebuilt in 1874.[2] All Saints' is a Grade II* listed building.[3] The ecclesiastical parish has become part of the united benefice of Rotherfield Peppard, Kidmore End and Sonning Common.[4]

Providence Chapel was founded in 1795. It later became Peppard Congregational Church. It is now Springwater Congregational Church.[5]

Social and economic history

Blount's Court is an early 19th-century house with neoclassical features, including a 15th-century doorway and 16th-century panelling.[2] It was the childhood home of Francis Knollys, 1st Viscount Knollys and is now the Johnson Matthey Technology Centre.

Wyfold Court was designed by Somers Clarke and built in 1872–78 for the Lancashire cotton magnate and Conservative politician Edward Hermon (1822–81).[6] It has a 14 window range of non-uniform material, mostly of stone mullion and transom windows with "elaborate carved hoods".[7] The building is of scarlet brick with blue brick diapers (geometric patterns) and yellow stone details.[6] Its style combines the Flamboyant period of French Gothic architecture with a touch of Scots Baronial.[6] The front façade has towers with corner turrets, gargoyles and traceried windows; its garden front has mullioned bay windows and brick gable (facing roof walls) with crocketed heraldic beasts.[6] Indoors, the main corridor is rib vaulted with staircase hall and a multi-storey wide bay window with stained glass of royal coats of arms.[6] In the 1970s critic Jennifer Sherwood summarised its architecture as a "Nightmare Abbey".[6] In 1932 the building was given to the nation and converted into Borocourt Hospital, for patients with learning disabilities.[7] It is a Grade II* listed building.[7]

The village has thrice been used for settings in the television drama series Midsomer Murders[8] and also for many of the scenes (including the eponymous house) in the Merchant Ivory Productions film Howards End.[9][10]

There was formerly a Peppard F.C., which played in the Combined Counties Football League in the 1990s and Hellenic Football League in the early 2000s until it disbanded.

Amenities

The civil parish council keeps updated a map of all of the amenities of the area.[11] The village has a Church of England-sponsored primary school,[12] Pubs in the parish are the Greyhound in Gallowstree Road,[13] the Red Lion in at Peppard Common[14] and the Unicorn at Kingwood.[15] Peppard has a village shop, a horticultural training and garden centre[16] and a pet shop. Also in the parish are a sports field and pavilion,[17] a lawn tennis club[18] and an RDA equestrian centre for people with disabilities.[19]

Nearest places

Nearest Places
Checkendon Rotherfield Greys Rotherfield Greys (part of)
Henley on Thames
Across part of Checkendon
Woodcote		 Harpsden
   Rotherfield Peppard  
Across part of Sonning Common
Kidmore End		 Sonning Common Binfield Heath

References

  1. ↑ "Area: Rotherfield Peppard (Parish): Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  2. 1 2 Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 737.
  3. ↑ Historic England. "Church of All Saints  (Grade II*) (1369298)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  4. ↑ Archbishops' Council. "Benefice of Rotherfield Peppard and Kidmore End and Sonning Common". A Church Near You. Church of England. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  5. ↑ "Springwater Congregational Church". Find a Church. Congregational Federation. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, p. 738.
  7. 1 2 3 Historic England. "Borocourt Hospital  (Grade II*) (1180805)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "Midsomer Murders Locations". Archived from the original on 29 September 2004. Retrieved 6 March 2007.
  9. ↑ "Howard's End". The Castles and Manor Houses of Cinema's Greatest Period Films. Architectural Digest. January 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  10. ↑ "Filming locations for Howards End (1992)". IMDb. Retrieved 6 March 2007.
  11. ↑ "Map of Amenities". Rotherfield Peppard Parish Council. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014.
  12. ↑ Peppard Primary School
  13. ↑ The Greyhound
  14. ↑ The Red Lion Peppard Common
  15. ↑ The Unicorn
  16. ↑ "Greenshoots – Garden Centre". Ways and Means Trust. Archived from the original on 18 August 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  17. ↑ "Hiring the Pavilion and Field". Rotherfield Peppard Parish Council. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
  18. ↑ Peppard Lawn Tennis Club
  19. ↑ Wyfold Riding for the Disabled

Sources and further reading

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