Alvescot

A Neolithic stone hand axe was found at Alvescot. Petrological analysis in 1940 identified the stone as epidotised tuff from Stake Pass in the Lake District, {{convert|230|mi}} to the north. Stone axes from the same source have been found at Kencot, Abingdon, Sutton Courtenay{{sfn|Harden|1940|p=165}} and Minster Lovell.{{sfn|Zeuner|1952|p=240}}

The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter is cruciform. The font is Norman and 12th- or 13th-century. The north transept and blocked north doorway are early 13th-century. The hoodmould over the south doorway is either late 13th- or early 14th-century, and the south porch was added in the 14th century. In the 15th century the nave was rebuilt and the present Perpendicular Gothic south transept and west tower were built. In the 16th century the south wall of the south transept was rebuilt and the present piscina in the south transept was inserted. St Peter's was restored in 1872 under the direction of the architects William Slater and Richard Carpenter.{{sfn|Sherwood|Pevsner|1974|p=421}} It is a Grade II* listed building.{{NHLE |num=1198102 |desc=Church of St Peter |grade=II* |access-date=28 June 2013}}

The west tower has a ring of six bells.[http://www.witneyandwoodstock.org.uk/towerAlvescot1.html Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers, Witney & Woodstock Branch: Alvescot]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Abraham II Rudhall of Gloucester cast the tenor, second and fifth bells in 1727.{{cite web |url= http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Alvescot&Submit=+Go+&DoveID=ALVESCOT |last=Davies |first=Peter |title=Alvescot S Peter |work=Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers |publisher=Central Council of Church Bell Ringers |date=3 January 2013 |access-date=28 June 2013}} Robert and James Wells of Aldbourne, Wiltshire cast the fourth bell in 1796. George Mears of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry cast the third bell in 1859. The Whitechapel Bell Foundry also cast the treble bell in 1985. St Peter's parish is now part of the Benefice of Shill Valley and Broadshire.

Alvescot used to have a Baptist congregation. Its former chapel is now a private house.{{cite web|url=http://oxfordshirechurches.info/Alvescot.htm |work=Oxfordshire Churches & Chapels |title=Alvescot |publisher=Brian Curtis |url-status = bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150221154621/http://oxfordshirechurches.info/Alvescot.htm |archive-date=21 February 2015 |df=dmy }} There was also a Methodist congregation, but its chapel was demolished in the 1990s.

In 1873 the East Gloucestershire Railway between {{rws|Fairford}} and {{rws|Witney}} was opened. It provided Alvescot railway station just outside the village on the road to Black Bourton. The Great Western Railway took over the line in 1890 and British Railways closed it in 1962.

File:The Plough, Alvescot, Oxfordshire.jpg

Alvescot has a public house, the Plough Inn,[http://www.theploughinn.uk.com/ The Plough Inn] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402090104/http://www.theploughinn.uk.com/ |date=2 April 2015 }} and a Church of England infants' school.{{Cite web |url=http://www.st-peters-inf.oxon.sch.uk/ |title=St Peter's Church of England Infant School |access-date=27 July 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090923094422/http://www.st-peters-inf.oxon.sch.uk/ |archive-date=23 September 2009 |url-status = dead|df=dmy-all }}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last=Harden |first=D.B. |year=1940 |title=The Geological Origin of Four Stone Axes Found in the Oxford District |journal=Oxoniensia |volume=V |page=165 |publisher=Oxford Architectural and Historical Society |issn=0308-5562 |url= http://oxoniensia.org/volumes/1940/notes.pdf}}
• {{cite book |last1=Sherwood |first1=Jennifer |last2=Pevsner |first2=Nikolaus |author-link2=Nikolaus Pevsner |year=1974 |title=Oxfordshire |series=The Buildings of England |place=Harmondsworth |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0-14-071045-0 |pages=421–422 }}
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Townley |editor-first1=Simon C. |last1=Colvin |first1=Christina |last2=Cragoe |first2=Carol |last3=Ortenberg |first3=Veronica |last4=Peberdy |first4=R.B. |last5=Selwyn |first5=Nesta |last6=Williamson |first6=Elizabeth |year=2006 |title=A History of the County of Oxford |volume=15: Carterton, Minster Lovell and Environs: Bampton Hundred (Part Three) |series=Victoria County History |place=Woodbridge |publisher=Boydell & Brewer for the Institute of Historical Research |isbn=978-1-90435-606-6 |pages=8–37 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol15 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Zeuner |first=F.E. |author-link=F. E. Zeuner |year=1952 |title=A group VI neolithic axe from Minster Lovell, Oxfordshire |journal=Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society |volume=XVIII |issue=2 |pages=240–241 |publisher=Cambridge University Press for The Prehistoric Society |issn=0958-8418 |url= http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9264615&fulltextType=XX&fileId=S0079497X00018387 }}

{{Commons category|Alvescot}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150402092533/http://www.wospweb.com/site/ALVESCOT-PARISH-COUNCIL/ Alvescot Parish Council]
• {{OpenDomesday|SP2704|alvescot|Alvescot}}

{{West Oxfordshire}}

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Category:Civil parishes in Oxfordshire

Category:Villages in Oxfordshire

Category:West Oxfordshire District