Long Hanborough is a village in Hanborough

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

, about northeast of

Witney Witney is a market town on the River Windrush in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is west of Oxford. The place-name "Witney" is derived from the Old English for "Witta's island". The earliest known record of it is as ...

West Oxfordshire West Oxfordshire is a local government district in northwest Oxfordshire, England, including towns such as Woodstock, Burford, Chipping Norton, Charlbury, Carterton and Witney, where the council is based. Area The area is mainly rural downland ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The village is the major settlement in Hanborough parish. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,630.

History

An infants' school was built in 1879 and enlarged in 1893. It closed in 1998 and was merged into Hanborough Manor School. The old school building has been converted to a private house. Christ Church

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

was built in 1893. It is now part of the

Benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

of Hanborough and Freeland. The village also has a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

church in which Reverend Samuel New resides. The

Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OW&WR) was a railway company in England. It built a line from Wolvercot JunctionThe nearby settlement is spelt ''Wolvercote'' and a later station on the LNWR Bicester line follows that spelling. ...

was built to the north of Long Hanborough in 1853, with Handborough Station (recently renamed Hanborough Station) opened just to the east of Long Hanborough to serve the village. The franchisee, Great Western Railway, offers services to Oxford, London (Paddington), Worcester and Hereford. In 1935 the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

opened a small station on the Combe Road to serve , although as near Long Hanborough as

Combe A combe (; also spelled coombe or coomb and, in place names, comb) can refer either to a steep, narrow valley, or to a small valley or large hollow on the side of a hill; in any case, it is often understood simply to mean a small valley through w ...

, and with a very limited service. On 30 January 1965 a funeral train with the coffin of Sir

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

was hauled to Hanborough Station by

Battle of Britain Class The SR West Country and Battle of Britain classes, collectively known as ''Light Pacifics'' or informally as ''Spam Cans'', are air-smoothed 4-6-2 ''Pacific'' steam locomotives designed for the Southern Railway by its Chief Mechanical Engine ...

locomotive 34051 ''Winston Churchill''. From Hanborough the funeral cortège proceeded to

St Martin's Church, Bladon St Martin's Church in Bladon near Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, is the Church of England parish church of Bladon-with-Woodstock. It is also the mother church of St Mary Magdalene at Woodstock, which was originally a chapel of ease. It is best ...

where the funeral took place and Churchill was buried. There have been several sightings of 2 big cats over the years. Believed to be Jaguars. It is said that the 8th duke of Marlborough released a number of these cats in his 9 years in office.

Amenities

AEC Regent III PWL 413 LongHanborough left

Long Hanborough has a post office, a GP's practice, a dental practice, a

Co-Operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

store, a fish and chip shop and a bicycle repair shop. It has two pubs, the Three Horseshoes and the George & Dragon. Until the 2000s it had two other pubs. In 2009 the Swan, in Millwood End, was a

gastropub A gastropub or gastro pub is a pub that serves gourmet comfort food. The term was coined in the 1990s, though similar brewpubs existed during the 1980s. Etymology The term ''gastropub'' (derived from gastronomy) was coined in 1991, when David E ...

, but it has since ceased trading and is now a private home. The Bell was controlled by

Greene King Brewery Greene King is a large pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019. H ...

but is no longer trading. The parish still has a primary school: Hanborough Manor Church of England School. Next to

Hanborough railway station Hanborough railway station is a railway station in the village of Long Hanborough in Oxfordshire, England, serving the village and surrounding district. As a result of the Cotswold Line being singled the former up platform is the only one now ...

are

Oxford Bus Museum The Oxford Bus Museum is a transport museum at Long Hanborough, West Oxfordshire, England, about northeast of Witney and northwest of the city of Oxford. The museum houses a collection of 40 historic buses and coaches, the remains of four ho ...

and the Morris Motors Museum. The bus museum has a collection of 40 historic buses and coaches that operated in Oxfordshire, plus relics of Oxford's former horse tramways. The Morris Motors museum has a dozen historic vehicles built by

Nuffield Organization Nuffield Organization was the unincorporated umbrella-name or promotional name used for the charitable and commercial interests of owner and donor, William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield. The name was assumed following Nuffield's gift made to form ...

companies, mainly

Morris Motors Morris Motors Limited was a British privately owned motor vehicle manufacturing company formed in 1919 to take over the assets of William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield, William Morris's WRM Motors Limited and continue production of the same veh ...

. Hanborough has a Women's Institute.

Buses

Long Hanborough has one bus service run by Stagecoach in Oxfordshire. Route 233 runs twice an hour, Mondays to Saturdays between

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

and

Burford Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeast of Che ...

via Long Hanborough and Witney. Route 233 passes Hanborough rail station. However, Long Hanborough has no evening, Sunday or

bank holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or h ...

bus service.

References

External links

{{Authority control Villages in Oxfordshire West Oxfordshire District