Great Shefford

"West Shefford" redirects here. For the town founded in 1792 in Quebec, see Bromont, Quebec.
Great Shefford

St Mary's parish church
Great Shefford
 Great Shefford shown within Berkshire
Area  13.6 km2 (5.3 sq mi)
Population 937 (2011 census)[1]
   – density  69/km2 (180/sq mi)
OS grid referenceSU3875
Civil parishGreat Shefford
Unitary authorityWest Berkshire
Ceremonial countyBerkshire
RegionSouth East
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town Newbury
Postcode district RG17
Dialling code 01488
Police Thames Valley
Fire Royal Berkshire
Ambulance South Central
EU Parliament South East England
UK ParliamentNewbury
WebsiteGreat Shefford and Shefford Woodlands
List of places
UK
England
Berkshire

Coordinates: 51°28′30″N 1°26′53″W / 51.475°N 1.448°W / 51.475; -1.448

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.[2] 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.

Demography

The 2001 Census recorded a parish population of 896,[3] and 880 are listed on the Millennium Stone opposite the petrol station. The population grew by approximately 5% in the ten years to 2011.

 2011 Published Statistics: Population, home ownership and extracts from Physical Environment, surveyed in 2005[1]
Output areaHomes owned outrightOwned with a loanSocially rentedPrivately rentedOtherkm² roadskm² waterkm² domestic gardensUsual residents km²
Civil parish 126 146 50 70 9 0.258 0.039 0.246 937 13.6

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.

Transport

Public transport

Service 4 (Newbury-Lambourn) serves Great Shefford.[4] 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.

Churches

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.[5]

St Thomas

St Thomas' Church, East Shefford contains important monuments to the widespread Fettiplace family.

References

  1. 1 2 Key Statistics: Dwellings; Quick Statistics: Population Density; Physical Environment: Land Use Survey 2005
  2. ↑ Ford, David Nash. "Royal Berkshire History". East Shefford St. Thomas' Church. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  3. ↑ "Area selected: West Berkshire (Unitary Authority)". Neighbourhood Statistics: Full Dataset View. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
  4. ↑ "Connect Service 4" (pdf). Timetables. Newbury and District Buses. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  5. ↑ "History of Great Shefford". Great Shefford and Shefford Woodlands. The Parish of Great Shefford. Retrieved 23 July 2013.

Further reading

Media related to Great Shefford at Wikimedia Commons

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