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Woodcote is a village in the civil parish of South Oxfordshire, about southeast of Wallingford and about northwest of Reading, Berkshire. It is in the Chiltern Hills, and the highest part of the village is above sea level. Woodcote lies between the Goring Road and the A4074. It is centred on the village green and Church Farm, with the village hall centred on the crossroads. ==History== Prehistoric artefacts have been found in the area, including a polished hand-axe from about 3000 BC found in the nearby hamlet of Exlade Street and on show in Reading Museum 〔Reading Museum Archaeological Notes - 65;60〕and a 28cm carved stone head Romano-Celtic, probably 1st - 2nd century, with typical protruding eyes, exaggerated lips and flattened nose.The folds of skin on the neck and musculature at the back of the head have been carefully detailed. It is of white oolite limestone, and was found at Wayside Green, Woodcote. and is now in Reading Museum (Ref 401-78).〔The Newsletter of the Council for British Archaeology, South Midlands Group (Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire)NUMBER 21, 1991 Page 117〕 The toponym Woodcote means "cottage in the wood".〔Lobel, 1962, pages 93-112〕 Woodcote was first documented in 1109, when it was a dependent settlement of South Stoke, which in turn was a possession of Eynsham Abbey.〔Emery, 1974, page 96〕〔Jordan, 1996, page 11〕 At the time of the Hundred Rolls in 1279, Woodcote had 14 freeholders and 20 tenants.〔 Woodcote's population grew thereafter but then declined, perhaps as a result of the Black Death.〔 In 1366 as a result of depopulation 15 virgates of land at Woodcote were vacant.〔 Woodcote Manor may date from the 12th century.〔 In 1550 it was called Rawlins Manor.〔 There is a Jacobean barn in the grounds of Woodcote House. Woodcote House itself is a Georgian country house built in 1733. It was remodelled by the architect Detmar Blow in 1910. Since 1942 it has been the premises of The Oratory School, a Roman Catholic day and boarding independent school.〔 Woodcote used to hold an annual sheep fair on the first Monday after St Leonard's Day (6 November).〔 The earliest known record of it is from early in the 18th century, but the link with the feast day of the parish's patron saint suggests the fair may have begun in the Middle Ages.〔 The fair was still being held in 1852.〔 Woodcote farmed largely on an open field system with five open fields until 1853, when an Act of Parliament enabled an enclosure award for South Stoke and Woodcote.〔 Woodcote provided the common pasture for the whole of South Stoke parish, while South Stoke beside the River Thames provided most of the parish's hay meadow.〔 In the 20th century Woodcote outgrew South Stoke.〔 By 1920 most residents worked outside the parish, many commuting to either Reading or a RAF station at Goring Heath.〔 Woodcote won the Oxfordshire Village of the Year title for 2008.〔(BBC Oxford: Rural Oxfordshire: Woodcote - Oxfordshire Village of the Year 2008 )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Woodcote」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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