Blewbury

The southern part of the parish is chalk downland and includes a number of prehistoric sites.

[2] The parish's highest point is the 520 feet (160 m) Churn Hill, 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) southwest of the village.

[4] A 7th century Anglo-Saxon burial mound, containing a sword and hanging bowl (which were relocated to The Oxfordshire Museum), can be found near to the Roman shrine or temple.

St Michael's was transformed in the late Norman period in about 1190, when the transepts and present chancel were built to make it a cruciform church.

[9] The south aisle was added in the 13th century, linked with the nave by a five-bay arcade in which the two western arches are taller than the other three.

In the 14th century the north aisle were added with its two-bay arcade of octagonal columns, and the Lady chapel south of the chancel.

Also from the 15th-century, are the choir stalls, the screen between the chancel and Lady chapel, the baptismal font and a doorway to a former rood loft.

Unusually there is also a 19th-century brass: an image of Faith in memory of John Macdonald, a boy who died aged 13 in 1841.

[citation needed] In the English Civil War in the 17th century Blewbury was in no man's land between King Charles I in Oxford and the Parliamentarian forces.

On a day in 1644, following the Second battle of Newbury a troop of Royalist cavalry arrived at Hall Barn and demanded lunch.

[19] The East Field would have been open farmed, and tracks up to the downs have been deeply cut into the chalk by the frequent passage of animals.

Around the end of the 19th century, the open areas of the downs were used for military manœuvres each summer, the camp being victualled by the local farmers.

[3] William Malthus was a London merchant who left land at Noke, Oxfordshire to fund a school at Blewbury.

[13][24] Its five-bay Queen Anne style school building close to St Michael's church was built in 1709.

Nikolaus Pevsner states that the first was built in 1738 for the oldest man in the village and the second was added on its centenary in 1838.

Writers have included Elizabeth Ferrars,[29] Dick Francis (from 1954 to 1980),[30] Kenneth Grahame,[31] Marguerite Steen,[32] GB Stern,[33] Barbara Euphan Todd[34] and Ben Fergusson.

[35] Artists have included William Nicholson,[36] father of abstract painter Ben Nicholson, Susan Beatrice "Twissie" Pearse, illustrator of children's books, including Amelia Anne series,[37][unreliable source?]

[40] Every two years or so, the village puts on a festival with various shows, dances, and exhibitions in many of the old houses as well as a walk along the path of the Millbrook as it threads its way through many private gardens.

There is an open-air theatre[41] in the grounds of Orchard Dene house with capacity for an audience of 250, where productions are performed each summer.

The earlier operas attracted media attention, including a one-hour television film about The Snow Queen in 1982.

The productions were not widely seen, since once St Michael's has been adapted for the large cast and orchestra, there is room for only about 120 in the audience each night.

In 2012 or so, it was planned to revive the first of Blewbury's commissioned operas Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by the composer Richard Blackford, who now lives in the village.