Coleshill, Oxfordshire

The toponym "Coleshill" is derived from the Old English kollr, meaning "head", "top" or "hill". It may be that the river was named after the hill, and then "hill" was added as a suffix to "Cole".{{harvnb|Ekwall|1960|loc=Coleshill}} The earliest known record of it is Colleshyll in a Saxon will dated 950. The Domesday Book of 1086 records it as Coleselle and Coleshalle. A document dated 1220 and included in the Book of Fees records it as Coleshull. Coleshull and Colleshulle were used from the 14th to the 16th century,{{sfn|Ditchfield|Page|1924|pp=517–523}} before the current form came to be used.

The National Trust's Coleshill Estate{{cite web |url=http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/buscot-coleshill-estates/ |title=The Buscot and Coleshill Estates |publisher=National Trust |accessdate=25 August 2015}} is in the parish. Coleshill House was the ancestral home of the Earls of Radnor.

In the Second World War, Coleshill House,{{cite web |url=http://www.coleshillhouse.com/pre-war.php |title=Coleshill House Pre War |publisher=Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team |accessdate=27 February 2012 |archive-date=8 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108152829/http://www.coleshillhouse.com/pre-war.php |url-status=dead }} on the estate, was the headquarters of the secret Auxiliary Units, who were to hamper Nazi German forces if the United Kingdom were invaded.{{cite web |url=http://www.coleshillhouse.com/the-auxiliary-units-history.php |title=The Auxiliary Units History |publisher=Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team |accessdate=27 February 2012 |archive-date=28 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328142746/http://www.coleshillhouse.com/the-auxiliary-units-history.php |url-status=dead }} Coleshill House burned down in 1952.{{cite web |url=http://www.coleshillhouse.com/post-war.php |title=Coleshill House Post War |publisher=Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team |accessdate=27 February 2012 |archive-date=8 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108142330/http://www.coleshillhouse.com/post-war.php |url-status=dead }}

The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of All Saints are late 12th-century;{{NHLE |num=1368120 |desc=Church of All Saints |grade=II* |accessdate=31 July 2018}} other parts are 13th-century and the tower is 15th-century. The building was refashioned in the 18th century and restored by Street.Betjeman, J. (ed.) (1968) Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches: the South. London: Collins; p. 112 In 1708, Abraham I Rudhall of Gloucester cast a ring of five bells for the west tower. In 1884, Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry recast the third bell.{{sfn|Ditchfield|Page|1924|pp=517–523}} In 1938, Mears and Stainbank cast a new treble bell to increase the ring to six.{{cite web |url= https://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Coleshill&Submit=+Go+&DoveID=COLESHILLO |title=Coleshill All Saints |last=Davies |first=Peter |work=Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers |publisher=Central Council of Church Bell Ringers |date=1 February 2018 |accessdate=31 July 2018}} All Saints is a Grade II* listed building.

File:Radnor Arms public house, Coleshill, Oxfordshire - geograph.org.uk - 393846.jpg

Much of the village was shaped by the local landowner, the Earl of Radnor. Coleshill has an 18th-century pub,{{NHLE |num=1052658 |desc=The Radnor Arms public house |grade=II |accessdate=31 July 2018}} the Radnor Arms.[https://radnorarms.co.uk/ The Radnor Arms] School Lane has a number of Grade II listed Radnor estate cottages dating from about 1850.

The record producer Sir George Martin lived at the former rectory until his death in March 2016. His private funeral was held in All Saints parish church.{{cite news |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-35814797 |title=Sir George Martin: Private funeral held for producer |publisher=BBC News |date=15 March 2016 }}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |editor1-last=Ditchfield |editor1-first=PH |editor1-link=Peter Ditchfield |editor2-last=Page |editor2-first=William |editor2-link=William Page (historian) |others=assisted by John Hautenville Cope |year=1924 |chapter=Coleshill |title=A History of the County of Berkshire |volume=IV |series=Victoria County History |place=London |publisher=The St Katherine Press |pages=517–523 |url= https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/berks/vol4/pp517-523 }}
• {{cite book |last=Ekwall |first=Eilert |author-link=Eilert Ekwall |orig-year=1936 |year=1960 |title=Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names |edition=4th |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0198691033 |at=Coleshill }}
• {{cite book |last=Pevsner |first=Nikolaus |author-link=Nikolaus Pevsner |year=1966 |title=Berkshire |series=The Buildings of England |place=Harmondsworth |publisher=Penguin Books |pages=117–119 }}

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Category:Civil parishes in Oxfordshire

Category:Villages in Oxfordshire