Kelmscott

Kelmscott
St George's parish church
Kelmscott Location within Oxfordshire
Population	198 (2011 Census)
OS grid reference	SU2499
Civil parish	Kelmscott
District	West Oxfordshire
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Lechlade
Postcode district	GL7
Dialling code	01367
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Witney
Website	Kelmscott Village
List of places UK England Oxfordshire 51°41′42″N 1°38′17″W / 51.695°N 1.638°W / 51.695; -1.638

Kelmscott is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in West Oxfordshire, about 2 miles (3 km) east of Lechlade in neighbouring Gloucestershire. Since 2001 it has absorbed Little Faringdon, which had been a separate civil parish. The 2011 Census recorded the merged parish's population as 198.^[1]

Kelmscott Manor

Kelmscott Manor is a Cotswold stone house, built in about 1570 during the Great Rebuilding of England and extended late in the 17th century.^[2] It was the country home of William Morris from 1871 until his death in 1896. He drew great inspiration from the unspoilt authenticity of the house's architecture and craftsmanship, and its organic relationship with its setting.^{[citation needed]} Kelmscott Manor now belongs to the Society of Antiquaries of London.^[3] Morris renamed his London town house Kelmscott House after Kelmscott when he bought it in April 1879. He named his private press, which he started in 1891, Kelmscott Press.

Parish church

The nave of the Church of England parish church of Saint George was built in about 1190 in the transitional style between Norman and Early English, and the chancel is probably of the same date. The building has transepts that were added in about 1260. The clerestory of the nave was added in the 15th century. Many of the windows of the nave and chancel are Perpendicular Gothic additions, including the east window of the chancel.^[2] The church is a Grade II* listed building.^[4]

In the churchyard is the tomb of William Morris, designed by Philip Webb. Morris featured the church in his novel News from Nowhere, when in the final part of the book the Guest is taken there for the feast.^{[citation needed]} St George's parish is now part of the Benefice of Shill Valley and Broadshire, which includes also the parishes of Alvescot, Black Bourton, Broadwell, Broughton Poggs, Filkins, Holwell, Kencot, Langford, Little Faringdon, Shilton and Westwell.^[5] In the village, next to the pub The Plough Inn, are the remains of a 14th or 15th century cross.^[6]

References

Sources

• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 665–667. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.

Further reading

• Crossley, Alan E.; Hassall, Tom; Salway, Peter (2007). William Morris's Kelmscott: Landscape and History. London: Windgather Press. ISBN 978-1-905119-13-4.
• Fisher, A. S. T. (1968). The History of Broadwell, Oxfordshire, with Filkins, Kelmscott and Holwell. privately published.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kelmscott.

• Kelmscott Village

This page was last edited on 19 December 2022, at 13:54