Sunningwell, Berkshire
Historical Description
Sunningwell, a parish in Berks, bounded on the E by the Thames, 3 miles N of Abingdon,and 2½ NW from Radley station on the G.W.R. It has a post and telegraph office under Abingdon; money order office, Abingdon. Acreage, 1331; population, 243. The living is a rectory iu the diocese of Oxford; gross value, £315 with residence. The church is a building of stone consisting of chancel, nave, W porch, and an embattled pinnacled tower.
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 | Sunningwell St. Leonard | |
| Hundred | Hormer | |
| Poor Law union | Abingdon |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1543.
Churches
Church of England
St. Leonard (parish church)
The church of St. Leonard is a building of stone, consisting of chancel, nave, west porch and an embattled tower with four pinnacles and containing 5 bells: the semi-octagonal porch, an addition in the Elizabethan style, was erected by John Jewel D.D. who was rector here about 1551, and Bishop of Salisbury 1559-71; his famous "Apology for the Church of England" and "Defence of the Apology," copies of which were placed in many English churches for the common use of the parishioners, are still to be found in some Berkshire churches. There is also a monument to Hannibal Baskerville esq. who died in 1688; and other memorials to the learned Dr. Samuel Fell, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1638, and formerly rector of this parish, who is said to have died of grief 1st February, 1549, on hearing of the execution of Charles I.; and to Margaret his wife, who survived him: the handsome communion table was given by Bishop Jewel: the church was restored by subscription in 1877 at a cost of £1,200, and has 165 sittings; the porch was restored in 1902 at a cost of £150.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Sunningwell was in Abingdon Registration District from 1837 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Sunningwell from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Sunningwell (St. Leonard))
- 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 Sunningwell 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.