Checkendon

Checkendon
Parish church of Saints Peter and Paul
Checkendon  Checkendon shown within Oxfordshire
Population	479 (2001 census)
OS grid reference	SU6683
Civil parish	Checkendon
District	South Oxfordshire
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Postcode district	RG8
Dialling code	01491
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Henley
Website	Checkendon Village
List of places UK England Oxfordshire

Checkendon is a village and civil parish about 6 miles (10 km) west of Henley-on-Thames in South Oxfordshire and about 9 miles (14 km) north west of Reading in Berkshire.

History

The parish has a record of continuous settlement since the 7th century. It is listed in the Domesday Book as Cecadene (Old English for "Ceaca's hill or hill-pasture"). The parish covers about 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) and lies between 150 metres (490 ft) and 170 metres (560 ft) above sea level.

After World War II Checkendon hosted a National Assistance Board camp for Polish war refugees displaced from Middle East and Africa. The camp, located at Checkendon outskirts () was opened in 1948 and offered accommodation in Nissen huts and was closed in early 60's.

Parish church

Main article: St Peter and St Paul, Checkendon

The Church of England parish church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is a 12th-century Norman building. All but one of the windows were replaced later in the Middle Ages with Decorated Gothic and Perpendicular Gothic ones, and the Perpendicular Gothic west tower is also a later addition. The building is Grade I listed.

The church has an early 13th-century wall painting of Christ in Majesty above a procession of Apostles. The murals were faithfully repainted when they were rediscovered, but more recently this has been considered over-restoration.

The bell tower has a ring of eight bells. Four were cast by Lester and Pack in 1765, two were cast in 1879 by Mears and Stainbank and two more cast by Mears and Stainbank were added in 1967. The turret clock is by Tucker of London, dated 1853.

Saints Peter & Paul parish is now a member of The Langtree Team Ministry: a Church of England benefice that includes also the parishes of Ipsden, North Stoke, Stoke Row, Whitchurch-on-Thames and Woodcote.

War artist Eric Kennington (1888–1960), who was churchwarden, is buried here.

Amenities

Checkendon has a Church of England primary school. Checkendon also has a village green with a playground.

The village has two pubs: the 15th-century Four Horseshoes within the village and the 17th-century Highwayman to the south in the nearby hamlet of Exlade Street. There is also The Black Horse at Scots Common.

Checkendon has an equestrian centre located on Lovegroves Lane. Checkendon Cricket Club plays in the Berkshire Cricket League First Division.

North of the village, in the 19th-century Wheelers Barn, is Philip Koomen Furniture, producing modern bespoke wooden furniture.

The Hookend Recording Studios, where bands such as Marillion, the Cure and the Manic Street Preachers have made albums, are in the manor house at nearby Hook End.

Public transport

File:"But I don't want to go via Quiet Lane" - geograph.org.uk - 591791.jpg

Perplexing signpost at Hookend

Two bus routes serve Checkendon:

• Reading Transport route 142, Reading – Woodcote – Checkendon
• White's Coaches route 145, Woodcote – Checkendon – Henley

External links

• Langtree information including History of St Peter & St Paul
• Checkendon.org
• Stoke Row Chapel