Letcombe Regis

Letcombe Regis
St Andrew's Church
Letcombe Regis Location within Oxfordshire
Population	578 (2011 Census)
OS grid reference	SU3886
Civil parish	Letcombe Regis
District	Vale of White Horse
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Wantage
Postcode district	OX12
Dialling code	01235
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Didcot and Wantage
Website	Letcombe Regis Parish Council

Letcombe Regis is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire. The village is on Letcombe Brook at the foot of the Berkshire Downs escarpment about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of the market town of Wantage. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 578.^[1]

History

The parish includes Segsbury Camp, an Iron Age hill fort on the crest of the Downs just over a mile south of the village. The Domesday Book of 1086 records Letcombe Regis. The name may come from the Old English Ledecumbe meaning the "lede in the combe" – i.e. "the brook in the valley." "Regis" may derive from the Latin 'rex' meaning 'Royal' with 'Regis' meaning The King's, giving, perhaps, "The Kings brook in the valley."

From 1959 to 2002 the Letcombe Laboratory, a major centre for plant research, was located at the Letcombe Manor Estate. The centre was initially a UK government laboratory, but was sold to the chemical company Dow Elanco in 1985.

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of Saint Andrew is a Grade II* listed building.^[2] St Andrew's parish is part of the Ridgeway Benefice, along with the parishes of Childrey, Kingston Lisle, Letcombe Bassett, Sparsholt and West Challow.^[3]

Amenities

The Morland plaque, the Greyhound Inn

Letcombe Regis has a public house, the Greyhound Inn^[4] and a village hall.^[5] Letcombe has a non-League football club, Letcombe F.C., which plays at Bassett Road^[6] and is a member of Wiltshire League Premier Division.^[7]

See also

• Regis (Place)
• List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom

References

1. UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Letcombe Regis Parish (1170217884)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
2. Historic England. "Church of St Andrew (Grade II*) (1368706)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
3. "Ridgeway Benefice". Wantage Deanery. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
4. "Welcome". The Greyhound Inn. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
5. "Welcome to Letcombe Regis Village Hall". Letcombe Regis Village Hall. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
6. "Facilities". Letcombe F.C. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
7. "First Team". Letcombe F.C. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.

Bibliography

• Ditchfield, P. H.; Page, William, eds. (1924). "Letcombe Regis with East Challow and West Challow". A History of the County of Berkshire. Victoria County History. Vol. IV. assisted by John Hautenville Cope. London: The St Katherine Press. pp. 222–228.
• Ekwall, Eilert (1960) [1936]. Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Letcombe Basset & Regis. ISBN 0198691033.
• Gilbert, David (2011). "Excavations South Of St Andrew's Church, Letcombe Regis: Prehistoric, Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Saxo-Norman Activity". Oxoniensia. LXXVI. Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society: 241–258. ISSN 0308-5562.
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 167.

External links

Media related to Letcombe Regis at Wikimedia Commons

• Letcombe Regis Parish Council