Charlbury () is a town and civil parish in the Evenlode valley, about north of Witney in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is on the edge of Wychwood Forest and the Cotswolds. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,830.

Place name

Toponymic evidence suggests that Charlbury was an Anglo-Saxon settlement from an early date, and may be associated with 'Faerpinga in Middelenglum' listed in the Tribal Hidage of the 7th to 9th centuries. The name is a compound of two Old English elements. Burh is a fortified place.

Notable buildings

Lee Place (Grade II* listed), the former dower house of Ditchley is the home of Rosita Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough.

About one mile to the southwest, lies Cornbury Park (Grade I listed), owned by Lord Rotherwick, by Abraham I Rudhall of Gloucester plus a Sanctus bell cast by an unknown founder in about 1599. Pulhams route X9 between Chipping Norton and Witney runs hourly via Charlbury, Monday – Saturday. There are other local bus services to and from Charlbury that run less than hourly.

Media

Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South and ITV Meridian. Television signals are received from the Oxford TV transmitter and the local relay transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Oxford on 95.2 FM, Heart South on 102.6 FM, Greatest Hits Radio South (formerly Jack FM) on 106.4 FM and Witney Radio, a community based station which broadcast to the town on 107.4 FM. The town is served by the local newspapers, Oxfordshire Guardian and the Charlbury Chronicle which is distributed free to every household in the town.

Amenities

thumb|View down Sheep Street to Hixet Wood

Charlbury Town Football Club play in Witney and District Football League Premier Division. Charlbury Town Walking Football play in the Oxfordshire Walking Football League. Charlbury Cricket Club play in Oxfordshire Cricket Association League Division 1. Charlbury Bowls Club play in Oxfordshire Bowls League Division Two and the West Oxfordshire division of the Oxfordshire Short Mat Bowling Association. Charlbury has a Women's Institute. Charlbury Museum, opened in 1962, is a local museum run by the Charlbury Society. Charlbury hosts a number of public events each year: the Riverside Music Festival in July which is free to enter, the Wilderness Festival in August, the Charlbury Street Fair in September, which dates back to 1955, and the Charlbury Beer Festival in late June or July, which hosts the Aunt Sally Singles World Championship.

Walcot

Walcot is a hamlet consisting of one farm in the civil parish of Charlbury. It is near the town of Charlbury, and in the Church of England parish of Charlbury with Shorthampton. The settlement comprises Walcot Farmhouse, a Grade II Listed manor house dating from the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries with latter additions. The Charlbury and Walcot (Oxon) estate survey of 1761, is held by the Bodleian Library Special Collections department. Walcot is close to Charlbury station, and is on a bridleway. It is near the River Evenlode, and is served by small turning off the B4437.

See also

  • Charlbury Road, Oxford

References

Sources

  • Charlbury.info
  • Open Directory Project page for Charlbury
  • Town on 1947 Ordnance Survey Map
  • [https://boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/review2023/b65f7782-658b-4c4a-9cba-59c16c807f77/a3-maps/SE_05_Banbury%20CC.pdf] 2023 Boundary Changes