The History of Shellingford

Click the image for more information on Shellingford Manor

Map of the parish — This map shows Shellingford as it used to be. There were no gaps in habitation between Fernham Road and Church Street. Some of the oldest houses in the village today are on the Fernham Road.

Timber Yard Cottages are listed buildings dating from the 1560s to 1570s

Shellingford House, a gabled Elizabethan listed building, served as a rectory for many years.

The Domesday Book

Shellingford has a long history that goes back to The Norman Conquest. Details are recorded in the Domesday Book.

Interesting tidbits from the Domesday Book:

“13 villagers. 7 slaves. 1 cottager.Meadow 104 acres. 1 mill”

Shellingford in the 1870s

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson’s Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Shellingford as follows:”SHELLINGFORD, a parish, with a village, in Faringdon district, Berks; 2½ miles SE of Faringdon r. station. Post town, Faringdon. Acres, 1,717. Real property, £3,303. Pop., 308. Houses, 60. The manor belongs to T. M. Goodlake, Esq. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £600.* Patron, T. M. Goodlake, Esq. The church is Norman and good, and has a spire. There is an Independent chapel.”

Shellingford in the 1890s

Shellingford, a parish, with a village, in Berks, 2 1/2 miles SE of Faringdon station on the G.W.R. It has a post office under Faringdon; money order and telegraph office, Stanford-in-the Vale. Acreage, 1761; population, 241. Kitemore is a fine mansion very pleasantly situated. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £383 with residence. The church is an ancient Norman building consisting of chancel, nave, S porch, and embattled western tower and spire. There is a Congregational chapel.

The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1894-5

Other resources

For more details on the history of the parish, please check information gathered by David Nash Ford at Berkshire History Online.

BHO, or British History Online also carries interesting information about the history of the village.