Shipton-under-Wychwood
Extract from Discovering Wychwood by Charles Keighley
6 km (4.5 miles) north-east of Burford, towards Chipping Norton. From Old English, meaning 'sheep town'. Shipton was a royal manor at Domesday.
Church of St Mary the Virgin, quite large and mostly 1200-50, originally the mother church for a parish which included Leafield, Ramsden, Lyneham and Milton, has a short tower with octagonal spire. Much of the the nearby village green was created as recently as 1960s.
Between the church and the River Evenlode is the Prebendal House and Tithe Barn, now a nursing home. Shipton Court is one of the largest Jacobean houses in the country. One or two unusual modern houses built in 1960s, and a magnificent village hall built in 1998.
- The Shaven Crown, 15th century, a hotel and restauraunt; The Lamb Inn with bar meals, restaurant and accommodation; The Red Horse Inn with bar meals and rooms.
- Two shops, Costcutter and the St Michael's Stores and post office.
- Very few trains stop at the station, north of the village towards Chipping Norton.
- Near the station the mill of F. W. P. Matthews Ltd. still grinds Cotswold corn.
- The parish rises from the River Evenlode to Shipton Down to the south. Near the river fields are mostly grassland, with good hedgerows and hedgerow trees. Elsewhere fields are larger, mostly arable, with some gappy stone walls.
- Several blocks of planted woodland near the village, including Diggers community wood planted in 2000 by the Woodland Trust and the people of Ascott, Shipton and Milton.
- Important limestone grassland habitats exist on roadside verges, especially towards Ascott-under-Wychwood, and also on the railway embankment north of the village. The river margins support birdlife, including swans, herons and kingfishers.
- The Oxfordshire Way runs on the west side of the river towards Bruern, and on the north side towards Ascott-under-Wychwood.
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