Letcombe Bassett, Berkshire
Historical Description
Letcombe Bassett, a parish in Berks, on the Ridgeway, 2½ miles SW by S pf Wantage, and 4½ from Wantage Road Station on the G.W.R. Post town and money order and telegraph office, Wantage. Acreage, 1631; population, 191. An ancient camp called Letcombe Castle is here on the Ridge Way. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £105 with residence. Patrons, Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The church, which was erected about 1100 A.D., is a building of stone and flint in the Norman style, was lengthened and a tower added about 1200, was thoroughly repaired and an aisle added in 1862, and contains a Norman font. There are a Wesleyan chapel and some charities. Dean Swift retired hither in 1713 and wrote his pamphlet entitled " Free Thoughts on the Present State of Affairs."
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 | Letcomb-Bassett All Saints | |
| Hundred | Kintbury-Eagle | |
| Poor Law union | Wantage |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1564.
Churches
Church of England
St. Michael (parish church)
The church of St. Michael, erected about A.D. 1100, is a building of stone and flints, in the Norman style: it was lengthened and a tower added at the west end about 1260; the latter is of brick, with stone quoins and dressings to the windows and a stringcourse, and the whole appears to be clearly the work of the 13th century: in 1862 the church was thoroughly repaired and a south aisle added, and it now consists of chancel, nave, south aisle, north porch, and an embattled western tower, restored in 1884 and containing 3 bells: a Norman font, probably coeval with the original building, is still in use: in 1890 two memorial windows were put in to the late Rev. W. Firth B.D. a former rector: there are 140 sittings.
Methodist
Wesleyan Chapel
There is a Wesleyan chapel here.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Letcombe Bassett was in Wantage Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Letcombe Bassett from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Letcomb-Bassett (All Saints))
- 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 Letcombe Bassett 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.