BURCOT

Burcot is a small village of mainly private roads and large properties which stretches along both sides of the main road. Much of the village is sandwiched between the main road and the River Thames.

Towards the end of the 19th century the area began to become a desirable Thames-side residential district and nearly all the old cottages were pulled down. Now only The Old Cottage, thought to be Tudor, and the 16th century pub date from the pre-Victorian era.

For hundreds of years Burcot was the highest point on the Thames which substantial cargoes could reach. Above it the Clifton shallows were solid rock which couldn't be dredged. So Burcot had an important wharf which, until the 17th century, enabled goods to be unloaded from the barges and transported by wagons to Oxford. As recently as early in the 20th century coal and flints were still brought in to Burcot by barge.

The Victorian former village church, St. Mary's, was built in 1860 in the Decorated Gothic style and was originally a chapel of ease. Subsequently it became the village school and then a private dwelling house.

Burcot is on the A415 midway between Berinsfield and Clifton Hampden.