Great Coxwell, Berkshire
Historical Description
Coxwell, Great, a village and a parish in Berks, 1½ mile SW of Faringdon station on the G.W R., and 4 miles NE by N of Shrivenham, with a post office under Faringdon; money order and telegraph office, Faringdon. Acreage, 1435; population, 317. The manor belonged to Beaulieu Abbey, and a barn built by the abbots, measuring 156 feet by 45, with walls 4 feet thick, is still standing. Limestone is found. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net yearly value, £122 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of Oxford. The church, which is an ancient building of stone, has two brasses, and is good. There is a Congregational chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Coxwell St. Giles | |
| Hundred | Farringdon | |
| Poor Law union | Farringdon |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1654.
Churches
Church of England
St. Giles (parish church)
The church of St. Giles is an ancient building of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, north porch and a battlemented western tower, with crocketed pinnacles at the angles, containing 5 bells, dated 1738; the chancel, restored by the Earl of Radnor in 1881, at a cost of £250, is good plain Early English work; the east window of three lancets is flanked on each side by a plain niche; and there is also a niche over the communion table, with a locker on each side; in the south wall is a piscina, with a shelf and low-side window; the nave, restored in 1882 at a cost of £400, has Perpendicular windows on the south side; there is a western gallery and the remains of a turret leading to the rood loft; at the junction of the chancel and nave is a sanctus bell gable; the tower, 15 feet square, is Early Perpendicular; there is a brass with effigies and inscription to William Morys, farmer, and Joan, his wife, 2 sons and a daughter, c. 1500; and inscriptions to Robert Russell, gent. citizen and draper, of London, 1630; Ann, wife of Thomas Mores, 1632; and Margaret, wife of Frances Mores, 1675, ancestors of Edward Rowe Mores D.D., F.S.A. the antiquary; to Robert Spindler, 1743; Frances, wife of Bond Spindler M.A. rector of St. Martin's, Oxford, 1743; and to Walter Mathew, 1698; in the church is also a memorial to the Rev. David Collyer B.A. for nearly 50 years vicar here, and a benefactor to the parish, and to Maria, his daughter, wife of Henry Stevens; he died 21 October, 1724, and was the author of the "Sacred Interpreter:" there are 140 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Great Coxwell was in Faringdon Registration District from 1837 to 1937 and Wantage Registration District from 1937 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Great Coxwell from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Coxwell, Great (St. Giles))
- Kelly's Directory of Berkshire, 1915
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Berkshire is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of Great Coxwell are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Berkshire papers online:
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitations of Berkshire 1532, 1566, and 1665-6 is available online.