Shrivenham, Berkshire
Historical Description
Shrivenham, a pleasant village and a parish in Berks. The village stands near the Wilts and Berks Canal, 1 mile N of the G.W.R., on which it has a station, and 5½ miles SW of Faringdon. It was once a market-town, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office (R.S.O.) The parish includes the tithing of Beckett and the townships of Bour-ton, Fernham, and Longcot. Acreage of civil parish, 6839 of land and 26 of water; population, 716; of the ecclesiastical parish with Watchfield, 1011. The manor with Beckett House belongs to Viscount Barrington. Beckett House is a fine mansion of stone in the Elizabethan style, standing in beautifully wooded grounds of about 150 acres in extent. There are several handsome villas. The living is a vicarage, with Watchfield chapelry, in the diocese of Oxford; joint net value, £195 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is a building of stone of the Jacobean period, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles, S porch, and an embattled central tower. It contains many fine tombs and monuments. There is a Wesleyan chapel. The townships of Bourton, Fernham, and Longcot are noticed separately.
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 | Shrivenham St. Andrew | |
| Hundred | Shrivenham | |
| Poor Law union | Farringdon |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from about the year 1580.
Churches
Church of England
St. Andrew (parish church)
The church of St. Andrew is of stone of the Jacobean period, consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled central Perpendicular tower containing 6 bells and a clock: at the east end is a monument of marble to John Wildman esq. d. 1710, who inherited the Beckett estate from his father, Sir John Wildman kt. alderman of London and postmaster-general, d. 1603, and a simlar monument to his adopted heir, John Shute, afterwards 1st Viscount Barrington, who died Dec. 14, 1734; in the chancel is also buried William, 2nd Viscount, who died Feb. 1, 1793; another monument in the nave commemorates the Hon. Samuel Barrington, Admiral of the White, d. Aug. 16, 1800; and near the family pew is hung a large white standard, captured by this officer from the "St. Florentine," when in command of the "Achilles" in 1759: there is a fine brass to William Keppel, 6th Viscount, d. Feb. 9, 1867; and another brass to Charlotte Maria, Countess of Strathmore (d. Nov. 3, 1854), and to Adelaide, wife of Charles Balfour esq. (d. Feb, 23, 1862), the eldest and youngest daughters of the 6th Viscount; and a memorial to Francis Lyon Barrington (d. Jan. 15, 1877); the church also contains a marble monument to George St. Vincent N. T. Murray, only son of Admiral Sir George Murray; and a handsome memorial brass, erected by George, 7th Viscount Barrington, to the late Earl of Beaconsfield, who died April 19, 1881: in the churchyard, at the west end of the church, lies a mutilated recumbent effigy of stone, and there are memorials to Anne, wife of William Naish, ob. March 8, 1678, and to John Naish, ob. Sept. 20, 1675, and several large tombs to the Colton family; a brass to the 7th Viscount Barrington and 1st Baron Shute, who died 7 Nov. 1886, and in whose memory the church was reseated with oak by his widow and daughters: there is also a brass to Percy, 8th Viscount Barrington and 2nd Baron Shute, d. 29 April, 1901: the church affords 500 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Shrivenham 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 Shrivenham from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Shrivenham (St. Andrew))
- 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 Shrivenham 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.