Swalcliffe

About {{convert|3/4|mi}} northeast of the village are the remains of an Iron Age hill fort on Madmarston Hill and the site of a Roman villa at Swalcliffe Lea. The hill fort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.{{NHLE |num=1006371 |desc=Madmarston Hill camp |access-date=14 November 2015}} The site of the villa is close to the course of a former Roman road running approximately east–west. Its course is now a bridleway. One authority asserts that there was a Roman or Romano-British village here.{{sfn|Aston|Bond|1976|p=45}}

Swalcliffe Manor house has a 13th-century service wing and a 14th-century hall. In the 16th century the hall was divided up and a solar was added. The house has later additions including a 20th-century extension. It is a Grade I listed building.{{NHLE |num=1046268 |desc=Manor House |grade=I |access-date=14 November 2015}}

The Church of England parish church of St Peter and St Paul is Anglo-Saxon in origin{{sfn|Sherwood|Pevsner|1974|p=795}} but was rebuilt in the 12th and 14th centuries. The bell tower was built in the 13th century and made higher in the 15th century.{{sfn|Crossley|1972|pp=225–260}} The church is a Grade I listed building.{{NHLE |num=1199016 |desc=Church of St Peter and St Paul |grade=I |access-date=14 November 2015}} The tower has a ring of six bells cast by Matthew I Bagley and Henry II Bagley of Chacombe,{{cite web |url=http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/founders.php |title=Bell Founders |author=Dovemaster |date=25 June 2010 |work=Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers |publisher=Central Council for Church Bell Ringers |access-date=30 January 2011}} Northamptonshire in 1685.{{sfn|Crossley|1972|pp=225–260}}{{cite web |url= http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Swalcliffe&Submit=+Go+&DoveID=SWALCLIFFE |title=Swalcliffe SS Peter & Paul |last=Davies |first=Peter |date=15 December 2006 |work=Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers |publisher=Central Council for Church Bell Ringers |access-date=30 January 2011}} Richard Sanders of Bromsgrove recast one of them in 1720.{{sfn|Crossley|1972|pp=225–260}} St Peter and Paul's parish is a member of the Benefice of Wykeham, along with the parishes of Broughton, Epwell, Shutford, Sibford Gower and Tadmarton.{{cite web |url= http://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice.php?B=27/179BM |title=Benefice of Wykeham |author=Archbishops' Council |author-link=Archbishops' Council |publisher=Church of England |year=2015 |access-date=14 November 2015}}

File:Swalcliffe Tithe Barn - geograph.org.uk - 1691595.jpg

Swalcliffe tithe barn was built for New College, Oxford in 1401–07. It has an almost completely intact medieval timber half-cruck roof and is considered the finest medieval tithe barn in Oxfordshire{{sfn|Crossley|1972|pp=225–260}} and one of the best examples in England. It is a Grade I listed building{{NHLE |num=1046267 |desc=Tithe Barn |grade=I |access-date=14 November 2015}} and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.{{NHLE |num=1006349 |desc=Tithe barn |access-date=14 November 2015}} The barn is open free of charge on Sundays from Easter to October and houses part of the Oxfordshire Museum's{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wps/portal/publicsite/councilservices?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=http://apps.oxfordshire.gov.uk/wps/wcm/connect/Internet/Council+Services/Leisure+and+culture/Museums/The+Oxfordshire+Museum/|title=The Oxfordshire Museum|website=Oxfordshire.gov.uk|access-date=29 July 2022}} collection of traditional agricultural and trade vehicles and an exhibition of 2,500 years of Swalcliffe history. The building has similarities to the tithe barns at Adderbury and Upper Heyford, which also were built for New College around the beginning of the 15th century.{{sfn|Lobel|1959|pp=196–205}}

Swalcliffe has a 17th-century public house, The Stag's Head.{{NHLE |num=1046266 |desc=Stag's Head Public House |grade=II |access-date=14 November 2015}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.the-stags-head.co.uk/about-us/4580620425|title=The Stag's Head; Swalcliffe|website=The-stags-head.co.uk|access-date=29 July 2022}} There is also a village hall.

Swalcliffe Park School is a boarding school for boys with special educational needs.[http://www.swalcliffepark.oxon.sch.uk/ Swalcliffe Park School] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040604120424/http://www.swalcliffepark.oxon.sch.uk/ |date=4 June 2004 }} It is housed in Swalcliffe Park, a Grade II listed former stately home originally built in the 16th century and remodelled in the 18th century. It is a specialist residential and day school for boys aged 11–19 who have needs arising from their Autistic Spectrum conditions. In day and residential settings, the school emphasises the development of students' communication, independence, self-management and personalised achievement. Many pupils have additional needs associated with other diagnoses; e.g. ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia or Specific Language Impairment. It is run by the Swalcliffe Park School Trust, a registered charity.

Formerly Stagecoach in Warwickshire bus 50A to Banbury and Stratford-Upon-Avon served Swalcliffe several times a day.{{cite web |url=https://www.stagecoachbus.com/PdfUploads/Timetable_34393_50-50A.pdf |title=50/50A |publisher=Stagecoach in Warwickshire |access-date=26 July 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226025951/http://www.stagecoachbus.com/PdfUploads/Timetable_34393_50-50A.pdf |archive-date=26 February 2015 |df=dmy-all }}

On the 8 April 1986 an McAlpine Helicopters Ltd, Aérospatiale AS 355F1 Twin Squirrel (G-BKIH) was flying over Swalcliffe from Pangbourne to Alton Towers when the aircraft engine failed. The helicopter crashed & caught fire, killing all Six passengers and crew.{{cite web|url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422fb6040f0b613460008c1/AS_355_F1_Twin_Squirrel_G-BKIH_05-86.pdf |title=Accident Report : AS 355 F1 Twin Squirrel G-BKIH 05-86|website=Assets-publishing.service.gov.uk|access-date=29 July 2022}}

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{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Aston |first1=Michael |author1-link=Mick Aston |last2=Bond |first2=James |title=The Landscape of Towns |series=Archaeology in the Field Series |year=1976 |publisher=J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd |place=London |isbn=0-460-04194-0 |page=45 }}
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Crossley |editor-first1=Alan |last1=Colvin |first1=Christina |last2=Cooper |first2=Janet |last3=Cooper |first3=NH |last4=Harvey |first4=PDA |last5=Hollings |first5=Marjory |last6=Hook |first6=Judith |last7=Jessup |first7=Mary |last8=Lobel |first8=Mary D |author8-link=Mary Lobel |last9=Mason |first9=JFA |last10=Trinder |first10=BS |last11=Turner |first11=Hilary |year=1972 |title=A History of the County of Oxford |volume=10: Banbury Hundred |series=Victoria County History |place=London |publisher=Oxford University Press for the Institute of Historical Research |isbn=978-0-19722-728-2 |pages=225–260 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol10/pp225-260 |ref={{harvid|Crossley|1972}}}}
• {{cite journal |last=Fowler |first=Peter J |year=1960 |title=Excavations at Madmarston Camp, Swalcliffe, 1957–8 |journal=Oxoniensia |volume=XXV |pages=3–48 |publisher=Oxford Architectural and Historical Society |issn=0308-5562 |url= http://oxoniensia.org/volumes/1960/fowler.pdf }}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Lobel |editor-first=Mary D |editor-link=Mary Lobel |year=1959 |title=A History of the County of Oxford |volume=6: Ploughley Hundred |series=Victoria County History |place=London |publisher=Oxford University Press for the Institute of Historical Research |pages=196–205 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/oxon/vol6/pp196-205 }}
• {{cite book |last1=Mills |first1=AD |last2=Room |first2=Adrian |author2-link=Adrian Room |year=2003 |title=A Dictionary of British Place-Names |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-852758-6 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Munby |first1=Julian |last2=Steane |first2=JM |year=1995 |title=Swalcliffe: A New College Barn in the Fifteenth Century |journal=Oxoniensia |volume=LX |pages=333–378 |publisher=Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society |issn=0308-5562 |url= http://oxoniensia.org/volumes/1995/munby.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=860–862 }}

{{Commons category|Swalcliffe}}

• [http://www.swalcliffevillage.co.uk/ Swalcliffe Village]
• {{cite web |url= https://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=4073704 |title=Swalcliffe |work=Search results |publisher=Geograph Britain and Ireland}}
• {{cite web |url= https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/swalcliffe-barn |title=Swalcliffe Barn |work=Oxfordshire Museums |publisher=Oxfordshire County Council}}
• {{oscoor gbx|SP378379}}

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Category:Civil parishes in Oxfordshire

Category:Villages in Oxfordshire

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents locations in England

Category:1983 disasters in the United Kingdom