Welford, Berkshire

Welford
St. Gregory's parish church and the rear of Welford Park House
Welford Welford shown within Berkshire
Area	20.39 km² (7.87 sq mi)
Population	513 (2011 census)^[1]
– density	25/km² (65/sq mi)
OS grid reference	SU4073
Civil parish	Welford
Unitary authority	West Berkshire
Ceremonial county	Berkshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Royal Berkshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Newbury
List of places UK England Berkshire

Coordinates: 51°27′22″N 1°24′43″W / 51.456°N 1.412°W / 51.456; -1.412

Welford is a rural village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England occupying both sides of the valley of the River Lambourn north-west of the town of Newbury and south of the Oxfordshire town of Wantage. It forms a strip parish which tapers in the south where it contains the hamlet, Halfway. It has Welford Park which has annual snowdrop displays, the M4 motorway and RAF Welford.

Notable buildings

Welford Park house

The history of the manor is long, held by Abingdon Abbey for centuries until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Overlordship was for some decades after in the hands of the Crown, and was attached to the manor of Benham Lovell, while the overlordship of the vill of Easton, Welford was attached to the manor of East Greenwich. Its history included a share held by Sir Thomas Knyvet(t) and within 20 years sale to Francis Jones (Lord Mayor) in the 1600s who was not related. It descended in the same family to the Mason, Archer and Houblon branches.

The main vestige is the wholly rebuilt manor house at Welford Park, which can be visited for its woodlands and early spring displays of snowdrops, is in the village.^[2]

It was described in a most detailed county history and geography of 1924 as a "large modern red brick building, surrounded by a deer park of 200 acres (0.8 km²). It is the property of the lord of the manor, Col. G. B. Archer-Houblon, but...the residence of Major R. P. Cobbold."^[2]

Saint Gregory's church

The Church of England parish church (to Saint Gregory) is one of only two existing round-tower churches in Berkshire, the other being St. Mary's at Great Shefford which adjoins the parish to the north-west.

Transport

The M4 motorway and RAF Welford, a munitions depot used by the United States Air Force, are within the boundaries. The village was formerly served by Welford Park railway station on the Lambourn Valley Railway, but British Railways closed this line to passenger traffic in 1960 and to freight traffic to and from RAF Welford in the 1970s. The station site is now a car park for visitors to Welford Park's snowdrop displays.

Demography

**2011 Published Statistics: Population, home ownership and extracts from Physical Environment, surveyed in 2005^[1]**
Output area	Homes owned outright	Owned with a loan	Socially rented	Privately rented	Other	km² roads	km² water	km² domestic gardens	Usual residents	km²
Civil parish	62	52	31	53	11	0.349	0.139	0.202	513	20.39

References

1 2 Key Statistics: Dwellings; Quick Statistics: Population Density; Physical Environment: Land Use Survey 2005
1 2 'Parishes: Welford', in A History of the County of Berkshire: Volume 4 ed. William Page and P H Ditchfield (London, 1924), pp. 116-125. Accessed 16 December 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Welford, Berkshire.

Website with photos of Welford St. Gregory, a round-tower church

Settlements in West Berkshire

Towns	Hungerford Newbury Thatcham (All are civil parishes and have Town Councils)

Civil parishes	Aldermaston Aldworth Ashampstead Basildon Beech Hill Beedon Beenham Boxford Bradfield Brightwalton Brimpton Bucklebury Burghfield Catmore Chaddleworth Chieveley Cold Ash Combe Compton East Garston East Ilsley Enborne Englefield Farnborough Fawley Frilsham Great Shefford Greenham Hampstead Norreys Hamstead Marshall Hermitage Holybrook Inkpen Kintbury Lambourn Leckhampstead Midgham Padworth Pangbourne Peasemore Purley-on-Thames Shaw-cum-Donnington Speen Stanford Dingley Stratfield Mortimer Streatley Sulham Sulhamstead Theale Tidmarsh Tilehurst Ufton Nervet Wasing Welford West Woodhay West Ilsley Winterbourne Wokefield Woolhampton Yattendon

Other villages and hamlets	Aldermaston Wharf Ashmore Green Avington Bagnor Beansheaf Farm Beedon Common Benham Hill Bloomfield Hatch Brightwalton Green Brimpton Common Burghfield Bridge Burnt Hill Calcot Chapel Row Colthrop Crockham Heath Crookham Downend Donnington Eastbury Eddington Elcot Eling Enborne Row Fords Farm Goddard's Green Halfway Heads Hill Hell Corner Hoe Benham Honey Bottom Hungerford Newtown Hunts Green Hyde End Inkpen Common Lambourn Woodlands Little Heath Lower Basildon Lower Denford Lower Padworth Marlston Marsh Benham Midgham Green Mortimer/Mortimer Common Ownham Padworth Common Shaw Shefford Woodlands Snelsmore South Fawley Stockcross Upper Basildon Upper Denford Upper Eddington Upper Lambourn Upper Woolhampton Wash Common Wash Water Weston Wickham Wickham Heath Woodlands St Mary Woodspeen World's End

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