WATCHFIELD

Watchfield is close to county border with Wiltshire. The village is on the edge of high ground known as the Midvale Ridge, which separates the low-lying clay areas of the Oxfordshire Vale to the north and the Vale of the White Horse to the south and forms a distinct but low escarpment.

The village comprises the attractive old village, centred around the High Street, and the newer military accommodation for the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom which is to the south of the village. The road out of Watchfield to the north (that used to go to Highworth) was blocked when the bypass was built and the old village now is fortunate not to have through traffic. This part of the village has some attractive old cottages, some in the local style of chalk and thatch, and in the centre is the parish church of St. Thomas.

The present church of St. Thomas, erected in 1858, is a stone building consisting of chancel, nave, and west bellcote containing one bell. The plate consists of a cup, the date letter of which is obliterated, but the maker's mark is the same as one the Shrivenham patens (1636); a paten of 1711 inscribed, 'The gift of Mrs. Ann Blagrove to Watchfield Chappel, Nov. 5, 1749'; and a flagon of 1853, 'The gift of Lady Catherine Berens, wife of the Vicar, Nov. 1857.' The living is a chapelry of Shrivenham in the gift of the Lord Chancellor.

To the north of the village, and north of the A420, is Westmill Wind Farm, situated at Westmill Farm on the site of the former Watchfield Airfield. The wind farm was established as a Co-op in 2004 for the purpose of constructing and operating a community-owned wind farm and will produce enough 'green' electricity to power more than 2,500 homes.

Watchfield is just south of the A420 Oxford to Swindon road, about a mile north of Shrivenham.