Blockley

Blockley
Blockley  Blockley shown within Gloucestershire
Population	2,041 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid reference	SP1634
District	Cotswold
Shire county	Gloucestershire
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Moreton-in-Marsh
Postcode district	GL56
Dialling code	01386
Police	Gloucestershire
Fire	Gloucestershire
Ambulance	South Western
EU Parliament	South West England
UK Parliament	Cotswold
Website	www.cotswolds.info › Places to Visit
List of places UK England Gloucestershire

Coordinates: 52°00′58″N 1°45′36″W / 52.016°N 1.760°W / 52.016; -1.760

Blockley is a village, civil parish and ecclesiastical parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England, about 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Moreton-in-Marsh. Until 1931 Blockley was an exclave of Worcestershire.

The civil and ecclesiastical parish boundaries are roughly coterminous, and include the hamlets of Draycott, Paxford and Aston Magna, the residential development at Northwick and the deserted hamlets of Upton and Upper Ditchford.

Blockley village is on Blockley Brook, a tributary of Knee Brook. Knee Brook forms the northeastern boundary of the parish and is a tributary of the River Stour.

Governance

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward has the same area and population as the civil parish.

Manor

In AD 855 King Burgred of Mercia granted a monastery at Blockley to Ealhhun, Bishop of Worcester for the price of 300 solidi.^[2] In 1086 the Domesday Book recorded that the Bishop of Worcester held an estate of 38 hides at Blockley.^[2] The Bishops of Worcester retained the estate until 1648, during the English Civil War, when the Parliamentary Trustees sold it.^[2] After the restoration of the English monarchy the estate was restored to the Bishop of Worcester, whose successors held the manor until at least 1781.^[2]

Churches

Blockley village including Saints' Peter and Paul Church

The Church of England parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul is late Norman,^[3] built in about 1180.^[2] The chancel is of three bays^[3] but only one of the six Norman lancet windows, that at the east end of the north wall, survives unaltered.^[2] At the end of the 13th century a two-storey extension was added on the north side of the chancel.^[4] The upper floor is a chantry chapel ^[5] and the lower is a vestry.^[2] In about 1310 the east window of the chancel was inserted and at least two of the windows in the south wall of the chancel were enlarged in the Decorated Gothic style.^[2] At the end of the 14th century the north aisle was added, linked with the nave by an arcade of four bays.^[2] The large Perpendicular Gothic window in the middle of the south wall of the chancel was inserted in the 15th century, replacing the Norman original.^[2]

The south porch was added in 1630, the clerestorey was added to the nave in 1636 and the north arcade was probably rebuilt in the same century.^[4] The bell tower was built in 1725, probably replacing an earlier one.^[2] The west gallery was inserted in 1735.^[2] The church was restored and the north porch added in 1871.^[2] By 1854 the tower had a ring of six bells, of which the two oldest were cast in 1638 and the remainder in 1679, 1683, 1729 and 1854.^[2] Since then the bells have been increased to a ring of eight,^[6] and in 2016 an appeal was launched to replace the bell frame and to increase the number of bells to ten.^[7]

The ecclesiastical parish now forms part of the Vale and Cotswold Edge team of Church of England churches,^[8] with the Team Vicar remaining responsible for Blockley and its outlying villages of Paxford, Draycott and Aston Magna, as well as the parish of Bourton-on-the-Hill.^[9]

The church is utilized as St Mary's Roman Catholic church of the Father Brown television series and the vicarage transformed into presbytery for Father Brown's residence.^[10]

The Baptist Chapel was built in 1835.^[11]

Economic and social history

In 1715 the Vicar, the Rev. Dr. Erasmus Sanders, had a new school built for the parish.^[2] Blockley still has a Church of England primary school.^[12]

Much of the parish was farmed under an open field system until 1772, when an Act of Parliament provided for the enclosure of the remaining common lands.^[2]

Blockley railway station in 1962

The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway, built between 1845 and 1851, passes through the parish. Blockley railway station was more than 1.5 miles (2.4 km) northeast of the village and nearer to Paxford. British Railways closed Blockley railway station in 1966 but the railway remains open as part of the Cotswold Line. The nearest railway station still open is Moreton-in-Marsh.

Blockley is home to Watsonian Squire, the largest UK manufacturer of sidecars and trailers for motorbikes. It has been based in the village since 1984.^[13]

Amenities

Blockley has two public houses. The Crown Inn and Hotel is a former coaching inn.^[14] The Great Western Arms belongs to the Hook Norton Brewery.^[15] and

The post office closed in 2007. In May 2008, under a co-operative agreement, the village residents opened a new local not for profit store^[16] that is a grocer, newsagent, post office, off-licence and café with free broadband. An advertisement was filmed for the shop by the director Chris Jury who lives in the village.^[17]

References

Sources

• Verey, David (1970). The Buildings of England: Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 121–125. ISBN 0-14-071040-X. 
• Victoria County History: A History of the County of Worcester, Volume 3. 1913. pp. 265–276. 

External links

Media related to Blockley at Wikimedia Commons