Wantage (/ˈwɒntɪdʒ/) is a historic market town and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England.

[6] In 1877 he paid for a marble statue of King Alfred by Count Gleichen to be erected in Wantage market place, where it still stands today.

[3][6] This contained paintings by Louis William Desanges depicting deeds which led to the award of a number of VCs, including his own gained during the Crimean War.

A body of improvement commissioners for the Wantage township was established in 1828 in order to provide local government functions.

[17] A new Civic Hall was built on the former gardens of Orchard House during 1974; the building opened in January 1975 and was later renamed The Beacon.

There are gallops at Black Bushes and nearby villages with racing stables at East Hendred, Letcombe Bassett, Lockinge and Uffington.

The Edgehill Springs rise between Manor Road and Spike Lodge Farms and the Letcombe Brook flows through the town.

There is a large market square containing a statue of King Alfred, surrounded by shops some with 18th-century facades.

[21] Stagecoach West run the S9 service up to every 20 minutes between Oxford, Botley, Cumnor, East Hanney, Grove and Wantage.

[23] Thames Travel run both the X35 service up to 30 minutes between Didcot, GWP North, Harwell Campus, East Hendred, Wantage and Grove, and the X36 service up to every 30 minutes between Didcot, Milton Park, Steventon, East Hanney, Grove and Wantage Monday to Saturday daytimes.

The tramway's Wantage terminus was in Mill Street and its building survives, but little trace remains of the route.

[30] One of the tramway's locomotives, Shannon, alias Jane, is preserved at Didcot Railway Centre.

[31] Oxfordshire County Council have ambitions to open a railway station on the former Wantage Road site.

[45] The Vale Academy Trust announced plans in September 2016 to build a brand new free school in Grove for children from the ages of two to sixteen.

[46] Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South and ITV Meridian.

B. Clacy[50] of Reading[51] and built in 1849–50[50] but incorporates a highly carved Norman doorway[50] from a demolished chantry chapel that formerly stood in the churchyard.

At least one development (including the new health centre) has been on a greenfield site adjacent to the A338 road towards Oxford.

This supermarket is double the size of the previous one and was intended to have a significant impact on the town by drawing more visitors from outlying villages.

There was activism in the town regarding development in 2011, with a campaign to stop the demolition of a building close to the town centre by Vanderbilt Homes, who initially gained permission to convert an early Georgian bank of shops into a mixed commercial and residential block.

[57] On 12 September 2014, cyclists competing in the 2014 Tour of Britain passed through Wantage during Stage 6 of the event.

The participants entered Wantage via the B4494 road and left via the A417 towards Harwell and then on towards the end of the stage at Hemel Hempstead.

[58] White Horse Harriers AC is an athletics club based in Wantage and Grove.

They organise the annual White Horse Half Marathon, which starts and finishes in Grove.