Dunsden Green or Dunsden is a village in the

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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Eye & Dunsden Eye and Dunsden is a largely rural civil parish in the most southern part of the English county of Oxfordshire. It includes the villages of Sonning Eye, Dunsden Green and Playhatch and borders on the River Thames with the village of Sonning in ...

in the

South Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a p ...

ward of Sonning Common, about northeast of

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

. Until 1866 it was in the

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

part of Sonning parish.

History

The

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

means "valley of a man named Dyn(n)e". In 1086 the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

recorded it as ''Dunesdene'', and a document of 1586 records it as ''Donsden Grene''. The

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 ...

of All Saints was designed by the architect

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposit ...

and built in 1842. Nearby is the former vicarage. The future

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

poet

Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen Military Cross, MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of Trench warfare, trenches and Chemi ...

lived here from September 1911 to February 1913 when he served as a lay assistant to the parish priest, Rev. Herbert Wigan. The Dunsden Owen Association has been formed to commemorate the poet's links with the area, and a smartphone app can be downloaded which provides an interactive guide to the sites with which he was connected. The village school was built in 1848. It closed in December 1973 and is now the

village hall A village hall is a public building in a rural or suburban community which functions as a community centre without a religious affiliation. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a village hall is a building which is owned by a local gover ...

. In 2002 the microbrewery Loddon Brewery was established in a converted 18th century brick and flint barn at Dunsden Green Farm. In November 2007 a new community

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

was established by the planting of a

Blenheim Orange Blenheim Orange (Kempster's Pippin) is a cultivar of apple. It was found at Old Woodstock, a suburb of Woodstock, Oxfordshire near Blenheim in England in about 1740. It is considered a dual-purpose apple, usable from late September as a cooking ...

apple tree on the

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

by Lord Phillimore, the main local landowner.Eye & Dunsden Community Orchard
/ref> The orchard is beside the village green.

Notable people

Robert Darke Robert Henry Darke (25 January 1876 – 19 July 1961) was an English first-class cricketer. Darke was born at Dunsden House in the village of Dunsden, Oxfordshire. He made a single appearance in first-class cricket for the Gentlemen of Engla ...

(1876–1961), cricketer *

(1893–1918), poet lived here from 1911 to 1913

Gallery

Dunsden Green church.jpg, All Saints' parish church, Dunsden. Dunsden Green signpost, Oxfordshire.JPG, The green at Dunsden Green.

References

External links

Sonning Villages in Oxfordshire South Oxfordshire District {{Oxfordshire-geo-stub

History

Notable people

Gallery

See also

References

External links