Stanford in the Vale is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse about southeast of Faringdon and northwest of Wantage. It is part of the historic county of Berkshire, however since 1974, it has been administered as a part of Oxfordshire. The 2021 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,302.

Churches and chapel

Church of England

thumb|Parish war memorial in St Denys' churchyard

thumb|Former [[Primitive Methodism|Primitive Methodist chapel]]

The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saint Denys are its late 12th-century south and north doorways. The west tower was built late in the 13th century, but its height was increased later. The chancel is Decorated Gothic. Later are the 14th-century north and south aisles, Perpendicular Gothic clerestory and south and north porches. Remnants of 14th-century stained glass survive in the east and south windows of the chancel. The pulpit and baptismal font are Jacobean. The pulpit is wooden; the font is stone encased with wooden panels and cover. The church is a Grade I listed building The tower has a ring of eight bells. Abraham I Rudhall of Gloucester cast the third, fifth, seventh and tenor bells in 1700. Abel Rudhall cast the fourth bell in 1753. Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the treble and second bells in 1891. St Denys' parish is part of the Benefice of Stanford in the Vale with Goosey and Hatford.

United Reformed

There is a United Reformed Church in Chapel Lane. It was formerly a Congregational chapel. It is no longer in use.

Methodist

Stanford had a Primitive Methodist chapel. It is now a private house.

Economic and social history

thumb|[[Thatching|Thatched cottages in Stanford in the Vale before the August 2005 fire]]

In 1230 King Henry III granted William de Ferrers, 4th Earl of Derby and the men of Stanford the rights to hold a weekly market in the village and an annual three-day fair on the eve, feast and morrow of St Denis, which is 8–10 October. Stanford's market and fair faced competition with those of other villages in the area including Baulking, East Hendred, Hinton Waldrist, Kingston Lisle and Shrivenham. In the English Civil War there were clashes a few miles to the north, at Faringdon and Radcot (a strategic crossing of the Thames), in 1644 and 1645. According to oral history, Parliamentarian cavalry was billeted in the village. On 21 August 2005 a fire badly damaged a row of five 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century thatched cottages beside Church Green. The fire was seen at 1:30 a.m. by an off-duty soldier from Dalton Barracks, who rescued nine people from the cottages. All five cottages have since been restored.

Amenities

thumb|The Horse and Jockey pub

thumb|Stanford's former post office and newsagent

Stanford has a primary school, a pre-school, two village greens, a post office, other shops and businesses, and a number of clubs and societies. The village has one public house, the Horse and Jockey. It had two other pubs, the Red Lion and the Anchor, each of which has been converted into a private house.

Demography

thumb|A Thames Travel bus from [[Faringdon to Wantage in Chapel Road, Stanford in the Vale]]

The 2011 Census found that the largest category of occupation in Stanford in the Vale is that of professions (151 of 1041 workers). In the more subdivided categorization of workers into industries, the largest was that of motor-related industries, including trade of motor vehicles (151 of 1041 workers). This was followed, in order, by human health and social work, professional, scientific and technical activities and by education as the other occupations. With between 88 and 95 workers, construction and manufacturing were industries in which other villagers at the date of that census tended to work. In the parish various grades of sand and gravel are quarried. However, only two people were employed in mining and quarrying: 0.2% of the working population. The gravel pit in the near northwest of the parish is dormant.

Transport

Bus route 67 links Stanford with Faringdon and Wantage six days a week. There is no service on Sundays or bank holidays. It is operated by Pulhams Coaches. Stanford in the Vale is a key point on The Vale Way, a 27 mile walking route across the South Oxfordshire landscape, linking the Market Towns of Wantage, Faringdon and Abingdon.

Notable people

The poet Pam Ayres was born in Stanford in 1947.

The English biographer Winifred Gérin lived in Stanford in the 1970s.

Christopher Wordsworth, nephew of the poet William Wordsworth, was Vicar of Stanford from 1850 to 1869.

Twinning

The village has been twinned with Saint-Germain-du-Corbéis in Lower Normandy, France since 1989.

Neighbouring settlements

References

Sources

  • Stanford in the Vale Parish Council
  • Stanford in the Vale Community Website