Grove, Berkshire
Historical Description
Grove, a hamlet, a township, and an ecclesiastical parish in Wantage parish, Berks. The hamlet lies near the Berks and Wilts Canal, three-fourths of a mile SW from Wantage Eoad station on the G.W.R., and 1½ N by E from Wantage, and has a post and money order office under Wantage; telegraph office at the railway station. The ecclesiastical parish was constituted in 1835. Acreage of township, 1791; population, 559. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Oxford; net yearly value, £255 with residence, in the gift of the Vicar of Wantage. The church was built in 1832, and contains the font in which Dr Pusey was baptized, and a good E window. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Berkshire | |
| Civil parish | Wantage | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Grove St. James | |
| Hundred | Wantage | |
| Poor Law union | Wantage |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1833.
Churches
Church of England
St. James the Great (parish church)
The church of St. James the Great, formerly a small and plain building of stone, consisting of nave only, with a western turret containing one bell, was entirely rebuilt of brick and stone in 1900-01: it consists of nave with aisle: there was in ancient times a chapel here, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, which existed up to the beginning of the 18th century: the church, lately removed, was built in 1832 through the exertions of the late Dr. Richard Lynch Cotton, provost of Worcester College, Oxford, 1839-81, when the former dedication was changed: there are four memorial windows to members of the Godfrey family and three to the family of Caudwell: the pulpit, from which Dr. Pusey preached his first written sermon, and the font in which he was baptised, are now placed here: the church affords 230 sittings.
Baptist
Baptist Chapel
There is a Baptist chapel, with an attached burial ground.
Methodist
Wesleyan Chapel
There is a Wesleyan chapel.
Civil Registration
Grove was in Wantage Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Grove from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Grove (St. James))
- 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 Grove 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.