Swerford is a village and civil parish on the River Swere in the Cotswold Hills in Oxfordshire, England. It is about 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Chipping Norton. Swerford has two main neighbourhoods: Church End and East End. The area between them contains very few houses and is called Between Towns. The 2011 census recorded the parish's population as 132.[1]
The church tower has a ring of six bells. William Bagley of Chacombe,[7]Northamptonshire cast the tenor bell in 1695.[8] Richard Sanders, who had a bellfoundry at Bromsgrove, Worcestershire and was also an itinerant bellfounder,[7] cast the fourth bell in 1723.[8] Matthew III Bagley of Chacombe cast the third bell in 1756 and the fifth bell in 1766.[8]W. and J. Taylor of Loughborough cast the second bell in 1823,[8] presumably at the foundry they ran in Oxford at that time.[7] The Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the present treble bell in 1998,[8] completing the current ring of six. The vicarage was built in the 18th century.[4] A Methodistchapel was opened in Swerford in 1938. It was closed in 1992 and is now a private house.[9]
Social and economic history
Old Clock Cottage was built in the 18th century.[4] By 1881 a railway tunnel 418 yards (382 m) long[10] had been built through South Hill just west of Swerford Park for the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway. The railway company usually called it Hook Norton Tunnel but sometimes it is called Swerford Park Tunnel. The line's nearest railway station to Swerford was about 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) away at Hook Norton. British Railways closed Hook Norton station in 1951 and closed the Banbury and Cheltenham railway completely in 1964. The tunnel is now bricked up at both ends to prevent access, both for people's safety and to protect any bats that may roost inside. (See Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.)
