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Checkendon
Checkendon
	Parish church of Saints Peter and Paul
	Checkendon Location within Oxfordshire
Area	9.85 km2 (3.80 sq mi)
Population	493 (2011 census)
• Density	50/km2 (130/sq mi)
OS grid reference	SU6683
Civil parish	Checkendon;
District	South Oxfordshire;
Shire county	Oxfordshire;
Region	South East;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Reading
Postcode district	RG8
Dialling code	01491
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Henley and Thame;
	List of places UK England Oxfordshire 51°32′35″N 1°02′46″W / 51.543°N 1.046°W

Checkendon is a village and civil parish about 6 miles (10 km) west of Henley-on-Thames in South Oxfordshire and about 9 miles (14 km) north west of Reading in Berkshire on a mid-height swathe of the Chilterns.

History

The parish records exist from the 7th century. The village is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Cecadene (Old English for "Ceaca's hill or hill-pasture"). The parish covers about 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) and lies between 150 metres (490 ft) and 170 metres (560 ft) above sea level.^[2] After World War II Checkendon hosted a National Assistance Board camp for Polish war refugees displaced from Middle East and Africa. The camp, located on the outskirts of Checkendon, was opened in 1948 and offered accommodation in Nissen huts. It was closed in the early 1960s.^[3]^[4]

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is a 12th-century Norman building. All but one of the windows were replaced later in the Middle Ages with Decorated Gothic and Perpendicular Gothic ones, and the Perpendicular Gothic west tower is also a later addition.^[5] The building is Grade I listed.^[6] The church has an early 13th-century wall painting of Christ in Majesty above a procession of Apostles. The murals were faithfully repainted when they were rediscovered, but more recently this has been considered over-restoration.^[7]

The bell tower has a ring of eight bells. Four were cast by Lester and Pack of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1765, two were cast in 1879 by Mears and Stainbank also of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and two more also cast by Mears and Stainbank were added in 1967.^[8] The turret clock is by Tucker of London, dated 1853.^[9] Saint Peter and Saint Paul parish is now a member of The Langtree Team Ministry: a Church of England benefice that also includes the parishes of Ipsden, North Stoke, Stoke Row, Whitchurch-on-Thames and Woodcote.^[10] The war artist Eric Kennington (1888–1960), who was churchwarden, is buried here.

Amenities

Checkendon has a Church of England primary school.^[11] Checkendon also has a village green with a playground. The village had two pubs: the 15th-century Four Horseshoes^[12] within the village and the 17th-century Highwayman^[13] to the south in the nearby hamlet of Exlade Street. The Four Horseshoes closed and in 2014 the landlord Brakspear was given permission to convert the pub into a post office. This never transpired, however, and in 2018 the pub company successfully applied to convert the property into residential accommodation. The property was eventually sold in January 2022.^[14]

There is also the Black Horse public house at Scots Common.^[15] Checkendon has an equestrian centre located on Lovegroves Lane.^[16] Checkendon Cricket Club^[17] plays in the Berkshire Cricket League First Division.^[18]

North of the village, in the 19th-century Wheelers Barn, is Philip Koomen Furniture, producing modern bespoke wooden furniture.^[19] The Hook End Recording Studios, where bands such as Marillion, the Cure and the Manic Street Preachers have made albums, are in the manor house at nearby Hook End.^[20]^[21]^[22] Near the edge of the village, on public display, is the statue Nuba Survival by John Buckley, created in 2001.^[23]

Public transport

No bus routes serve Checkendon: The nearest bus services are found in Woodcote.

Gallery

Perplexing signpost at Hookend
Nuba Survival by John Buckley (2001)

References

^ "Area: Checkendon CP (Parish): Parish Headcounts". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 11 February 2003. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
^ ""Checkendon Village: A Brief History" at checkendon.org". Archived from the original on 25 February 2012.
^ Zosia Biegus (2013). Polish resettlement camps in England and Wales 1946-1969. PB Software. ISBN 978-0-9569934-9-6.
^ The camp was situated at 51°33′20″N 1°02′49″W / 51.555556°N 1.046944°W / 51.555556; -1.046944
^ Sherwood & Pevsner 1974, pp. 533–534.
^ Stuff, Good. "Church of St Peter and St Paul, Checkendon, Oxfordshire". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
^ Long 1972, p. 90.
^ Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers, Reading Branch Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Checkendon", guide available at the church, published July 1978
^ "The Langtree Team Ministry". Archived from the original on 21 August 2016.
^ Checkendon Church of England Primary School^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ "Geograph:: The Four Horseshoes, Checkendon © Colin Bates". www.geograph.org.uk. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
^ The Highwayman Archived 12 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Villagers oppose plans for new homes in grounds of former pub". www.henleystandard.co.uk.
^ "Black Horse, Reading, Berkshire, RG8 0TE - pub details". beerintheevening.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
^ "Home". Checkendon Equestrian Centre. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
^ "Checkendon Cricket Club at checkendon.org". Archived from the original on 25 February 2012.
^ "Berkshire Cricket League Fixtures Table". berkshirecricketleague.com. Archived from the original on 4 January 2012.
^ Philip Koomen Furniture Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Making The Cure: Disintegration - Classic Pop Magazine". www.classicpopmag.com.
^ "marillion.com | Racket Records Store". www.marillion.com.
^ "Manic Street Preachers - Gold Against the Soul Album Reviews, Songs & More | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
^ "Checkendon Sculpture – The Nuba Embrace". anxioussilence.co.uk. 16 February 2008. Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2018.

Sources

Long, E.T. (1972). "Medieval Wall Paintings in Oxfordshire Churches". Oxoniensia. XXXVII. Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society: 106–107.
Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 533–534. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.