Ampney St Peter
{{Short description|Village in Gloucestershire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox UK place
| official_name = Ampney St Peter
| static_image_name = Ampney St Peter church.jpg
| static_image_alt =
| static_image_caption = The church of St Peter
| map_alt = Ampney St Peter shown within Gloucestershire and England
| coordinates = {{coord|51.7116|-1.8836|display=inline,title}}
| civil_parish = Ampney St Peter
| population = 75
| population_ref =
| country = England
| shire_district = Cotswold
| shire_county = Gloucestershire
| region = South West England
| constituency_westminster = South Cotswolds{{cite web|title=Location of South Cotswolds |url=https://members.parliament.uk/constituency/4297/location
|website=parliament.uk|access-date=2 January 2024}}
| post_town =
| postcode_district = GL7 5SH
| postcode_area = GL
| dial_code =
| os_grid_reference = SP080014
| website =
}}
Ampney St Peter is a small village and civil parish in the Cotswolds and part of the Cotswold local government district in Gloucestershire, England. According to the 2014 mid year estimate, the parish had a population of 75.{{cite web |title=Local Insight profile for ‘Ampney St. Peter CP’ area |url=https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/1521227/glos-parishes-cotswold-ampney-st-peter-cp-glos_li_parish_e04004183-20161109031653854.pdf |website=Gloucestershire Parish Profiles |publisher=Gloucestershire County Council |access-date=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301171926/https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/media/1521227/glos-parishes-cotswold-ampney-st-peter-cp-glos_li_parish_e04004183-20161109031653854.pdf |archive-date=1 March 2020 |url-status=live }} Locally, the town was known as Easington.{{cite web |title=Ampney St Peter Gloucestershire |url=https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/10326 |website=A Vision of Britain |publisher=University of Portsmouth |accessdate=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301171921/https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/10326 |archive-date=1 March 2020 |url-status=live }}
The Ampney Brook flows near the village, which is near to Ampney Crucis and Ampney St Mary, and is about four miles east of Cirencester.{{cite web |title=Ampney St Peter |url=http://www.tinstaafl.co.uk/eandwhmi/gloucestershire/church%20pages/ampney_st_peter.htm |publisher=Tinstaafl Transcripts |accessdate=1 March 2020}}
History
File:Ampney St Peter gold post box street.jpg
Ranbury Ring to the south east of the village is the remains of an Iron Age enclosed settlement or bivallate hillfort covering {{convert|4.6|ha}},{{cite web |title=Ranbury Ring |url=http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=327309 |website=Pastscape |publisher=Historic England |accessdate=1 March 2020}} and surrounded by a ditch and rampart.{{cite web |title=Ranbury Ring |url=https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=29364 |publisher=The Megalithic Portal |accessdate=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726202717/http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=29364 |archive-date=26 July 2014 |url-status=live }}
It has been scheduled as an ancient monument.{{cite web |title=Ranbury Ring |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1003322 |publisher=Historic England |accessdate=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301181834/https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1003322 |archive-date=1 March 2020 |url-status=live }} Nearby is a Neolithic burial pit.{{cite journal |last1=Mudd |first1=Andrew |title=A Neolithic burial and pit alignment near Ranbury Ring, Ampney St Peter: Excavations in 2008/9 |journal=Trans. Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society 130 (2012), 129–141 |date=2012 |volume=130 |pages=129–141 |url=http://www.bgas.org.uk/tbgas_bg/v130/bg130129.pdf |access-date=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301181835/http://www.bgas.org.uk/tbgas_bg/v130/bg130129.pdf |archive-date=1 March 2020 |url-status=live }}
The Red Lion is an 18th-century Grade II listed public house.{{NHLE |num= 1392432|desc= Red Lion, Ampney St Peter|access-date= 19 August 2014}} It is on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.{{cite book|last1=Brandwood|first1=Geoff|title=Britain's best real heritage pubs|date=2013|publisher=CAMRA|location=St. Albans|isbn=9781852493042|page=38}}
Religious buildings
The Anglican Church of St. Peter has late Saxon origins. It is Grade II* listed. The fabric of the current building dates from the late 12th or early 13th century and underwent Victorian restoration, and was largely rebuilt by George Gilbert Scott in 1878.{{cite web |title=Church of St. Peter |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1089929 |website=National Heritage List for England |publisher=Historic England |accessdate=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301174636/https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1089929 |archive-date=1 March 2020 |url-status=live }} It consists of a four-bay nave and chancel with a three-stage west tower supported by diagonal buttresses.
Inside the church is a Sheela na gig.{{cite web |title=Ampney St Peter |url=http://www.sheelanagig.org/wordpress/ampney-st-peter/ |publisher=The Sheela Na Gig Project |accessdate=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301174635/http://www.sheelanagig.org/wordpress/ampney-st-peter/ |archive-date=1 March 2020 |url-status=live }} The font is from the 15th century. The Romanesque archways were moved from their original positions during the Victorian restoration.{{cite web |title=St Peter, Ampney St Peter, Gloucestershire |url=https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?key=SXsiUCI6eyJ2YWx1ZSI6IkFtcG5leSBTdCBQZXRlciIsIm9wZXJhdG9yIjoxLCJmdXp6eVByZWZpeExlbmd0aCI6MywiZnV6enlNaW5TaW1pbGFyaXR5IjowLjUsIm1heFN1Z2dlc3Rpb25zIjo1LCJhbHdheXNTdWdnZXN0IjpudWxsfSwiRiI6ImV5SjBJanBiTmwxOSJ9&WINID=1583084394487#9FsriuF4pyAAAAFwly5cow/12756 |publisher=The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland |accessdate=1 March 2020}}
In the churchyard is a 14th century cross which is both a listed building and has been scheduled as an ancient monument.{{cite web |title=Cross in churchyard of Church of St. Peter |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1341067 |publisher=Historic England |accessdate=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301175234/https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1341067 |archive-date=1 March 2020 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Churchyard cross at Ampney St Peter |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1014412 |publisher=Historic England |accessdate=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301175236/https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1014412 |archive-date=1 March 2020 |url-status=live }} There is also a chest tomb and gravestones to the local Taylor family.{{cite web |title=Group of six Taylor Monuments about 6m south of blocked south door in churchyard of Church of St. Peter |url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1089930 |publisher=Historic England |accessdate=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301175234/https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1089930 |archive-date=1 March 2020 |url-status=live }}
Notable residents
The village is the hometown of Dressage Olympian Laura Bechtolsheimer, a long term member of the British Dressage team. In August 2012, the village's postbox was painted gold by Royal Mail to signify the gold medal earned by Bechtolsheimer in the 2012 Olympic team dressage.{{cite web |title=Ampney St Peter gold post box |url=https://www.royalmailgroup.com/en/press-centre/press-releases/royal-mail/ampney-st-peter-gold-post-box/ |publisher=Royal Mail |accessdate=1 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301113236/https://www.royalmailgroup.com/en/press-centre/press-releases/royal-mail/ampney-st-peter-gold-post-box/ |archive-date=1 March 2020 |url-status=live }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Ampney St Peter}}
- {{OpenDomesday|SP0701|ampney-st-peter|Ampney [St Peter]}}
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