The Lockinge Estate is a agricultural and housing estate near

Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Berkshire, it has been a ...

that today includes most of the land and property encompassing the villages of

West Lockinge West Lockinge is a village in and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lockinge, in the Vale of White Horse district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 local authority boundary changes transfer ...

East Lockinge East Lockinge is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lockinge, in the Vale of White Horse district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 local authority boundary changes transferr ...

and

Ardington Ardington is a village and civil parish about east of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. Since 2012 responsibility for Ardington and the neighbouring p ...

. The current manager of the Lockinge Estate is Thomas Loyd. Almost the entire estate is included within the

North Wessex Downs The North Wessex Downs are an area of chalk downland landscapes located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The North Wessex Downs has been designated as a National Landscape (formerly known as Area of ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

(AONB). The ancient

Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, withi ...

passed through the estate, as does the modern-day National Cycle Route 544.

History

Following consecutive land purchases between 1859 and 1870, the estate became one of the largest in England. The estate grew in character under the ownership of Lady Harriet and

Robert Loyd-Lindsay, 1st Baron Wantage Brigadier General Robert James Loyd-Lindsay, 1st Baron Wantage, (17 April 1832 – 10 June 1901) was a British soldier, politician, philanthropist, benefactor to Wantage, and first chairman and co-founder of the British National Society for Aid ...

, who significantly improved housing and services for the estate workers and attempted to create a worker's model village. Lord Wantage also had Lockinge House extended and renovated, complete with a large ice house and orangery. The estate was modernised under Christopher Loyd following World War Two, who had Lockinge House demolished in 1947, established the Lockinge Stud, and established the Lockinge Trust to provide affordable housing. The Lockinge Trust and the Village Housing Charitable Trust continue to manage housing and historic issues on the estate.

References

{{coords, 51.59, -1.38, display=title Housing estates in Oxfordshire