Naunton is a village in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, England. It lies on the

River Windrush The River Windrush is a tributary of the River Thames in central England. It rises near Snowshill in Gloucestershire and flows south east for via Burford and Witney to meet the Thames at Newbridge, River Thames, Newbridge in Oxfordshire. The ri ...

in the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...

, an

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 ...

Stow-on-the-Wold Stow-on-the-Wold is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, on top of an 800-foot (244 m) hill at the junction of main roads through the Cotswolds, including the Fosse Way (A429), which is of Roman ...

is about 6 miles to the east.

Community

The population of Naunton in 2000 was 371, which fell to 352 at the 2011 census. Once a farming community with the usual supporting trades, by the turn of the second millennium it had moved towards being a dormitory village. It has had no shops since 1999. Despite rising property prices, community activity remains and local associations include clubs for music, cricket, golf and tennis. The village has a parish council. The village hall was refurbished in 2017–2018 aided by a twenty-year government loan of £100,000. There are single public bus services on Tuesdays to Andoversford and Fridays to Stow-on-the-Wold. The nearest railway station is at

Moreton-in-Marsh Moreton-in-Marsh is a market town in the Evenlode Valley, within the Cotswolds district and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Gloucestershire, England. Its flat and low-lying site is surrounded by the Cotswold Hills. The River Evenlode r ...

(10 miles, 16 km away), providing several trains daily to

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London railway station and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great Western Ra ...

Great Malvern Great Malvern is an area of the civil parish of Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, in the Malvern Hills District, Malvern Hills district, in the county of Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of O ...

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Heritage

Naunton is referred to in 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 ...

of 1086 as ''Niwetone''.Cotswold planning trip sit
Retrieved 6 April 2018.
/ref> There has probably been a settlement there for at least 2000 years. The present church, dedicated to

St Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Chu ...

, dates largely from the 15th century. The Renaissance playwright and poet

Ulpian Fulwell Ulpian Fulwell (1545/6 – before 1586) was an English Renaissance theatre playwright, satirist and poet. Later as a Gloucestershire parish priest, he appears to have neglected his duties. Church, stage and satire Born one of the two sons of a li ...

was Rector of Naunton from about 1570 until his death in about 1586. Another Rector, from 1660, was the prolific author and translator

Clement Barksdale Clement Barksdale (November 1609 – January 1687) was a prolific English religious author, polymath and Anglican priest. He lost his London parish in the English Civil War, but gained Gloucestershire livings at the Restoration and taught at a p ...

(1609–1687), who held the parish in plurality with Stow-on-the-Wold. Naunton has a famous

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

erected in 1660. The

1998 Grand National The 1998 Grand National (known as the Martell Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 151st official renewal of the world-famous Grand National steeplechase that took place at Aintree near Liverpool, England, on 4 April 1998. The r ...

winner,

Earth Summit The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio de Janeiro Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92, Cúpula da Terra), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 ...

was prepared for the race in the village.

References

External links

Naunton Parish Council website'Parishes: Naunton', A History of the County of Gloucester: volume 6 (1965), pp. 76–87.
{{authority control Villages in Gloucestershire Cotswold District