England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Charney Bassett St Peter

The Parish

The chapelry of Charney Bassett, part of the larger parish of Longworth, lies in northern Berkshire, in that portion of the county transferred to Oxfordshire in 1974. Charney Bassett is a small and compact village lying about 4 miles north of the market town of Wantage. Charney Bassett sits, in lanes, about 3 miles south of the A420 road which connects the city of Oxford with the Wiltshire town of Swindon. The area in which Charney Bassett sits is known colloquially as the "Vale of the White Horse" after the chalk figure prominent on the nearby Downs. Charney Bassett would have been a farming community, a mixed regime as it sits close to the water meadows of the River Ock. The Ock drains the parish eastwards soon joining the Thames at Abingdon and thence through the capital to the North Sea. Charney Bassett is sited at around 60 metres above the sea and the Vale is relatively smooth with local heights rarely exceeding 80 metres within a couple of miles. The chapelry covered just short of 1,200 acres making it relatively small and it would have supported a population of just under 300 parishioners. In Domesday times Charney Bassett was equally small, held by Abingdon Abbey it could offer just 7 ploughs and a small meadow.

The Church

St Peter's church sits on the southern edge of the village close to the Ock and on the northern side of the lane leading to Lyford. The oldest portion of the church is Norman with the southern doorway its principal feature. The work on the moulding showing faces with protruding tongues forking into beards is quite extraordinary. The remainder of the church is fairly typically Perpendicular and reflects a significant rebuild during the 15th century. The curious bellcote, one could hardly call it a tower, is 17th century, a rare period for church fabric. The church sits within a brick-topped local stone wall but is curiously placed tightly against the western edges. This position makes it better to obtain images from outside the otherwise open and uncluttered churchyard.