Bourton
Bourton is a small Vale village close to the boundary
with Wiltshire. Unlike other nearby
villages, particularly those to the south, there are no
chalk/thatch cottages here. Instead, the cottages are
built in the local grey stone, most with slate or stone
roofs.
It is thought that the original village was in the area
now known as Lower Bourton to the north of the village.
In the centre of the present village stands a pinnacle
or monolith said to also have been built by the Danes
to commemorate victory in in a battle with the Saxons.
Also in the centre of the village are Pinewood
School, in the grounds of the old Bourton House, and
the Village Hall. Pinewood School is a coeducational school
for children from Nursery through to prep school offering
boarding and day facilities.
The impressive looking village Hall was originally a
Baptist chapel and is a fine example of Victorian Chapel
Architecture with an attractive hammered type ceiling,
built in 1851.
At the southern edge of the village is the village church,
St James's, built by public subscription of local stone
quarried several hundred yards up the road from the church.
The remains of the Wilts
and Berks Canal passes just north of Bourton at the
end of Steppingstone Lane and used to bring a lot of trade
and goods to the village as well as being a means to export
them. The canal was eventually superceded by the railway
but, like many other villages along the routes of the
canal and the railway, trade declined again when nearby
Shrivenham station was closed.
Bourton is about five miles east of Swindon, just off the A420 Swindon to Oxford Road about a
mile south of Shrivenham.