Sotwell, Berkshire
Historical Description
Sotwell, a village and a parish in Berks, 1½ mile NW from Wallingford station, on the G.W.R. Post town and telegraph office, Wallingford. Acreage, 708; population, 192. The living is consolidated with Brightwell, in the diocese of Oxford; joint net value, £500 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford. The church, which was erected on the site of an older building in 1884, is a structure of stone in the Perpendicular style.
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 | Sotwell St. James | |
| Hundred | Moreton | |
| Poor Law union | Wallingford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1684.
Churches
Church of England
St. James (parish church)
The church of St. James, erected in the year 1884, on the site of the old church, is a building of stone, in the Perpendicular style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a western belfry, with shingled spire, containing one bell: several fragments of an earlier structure were found among the rubble of which the late church was built, including the greater portion of an Early window and the stones of a doorway, now built into the north wall: there is a memorial window to Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, erected in 1884, and one to the Rev. John Langley M.A. rector of St. Mary's and St. Leonard's, Wallingford, from 1829: the east window is a memorial to the Rev. James Haldane Stewart: there are about 100 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Sotwell was in Wallingford Registration District from 1837 to 1948
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Sotwell from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Sotwell (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 Sotwell 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.