Tadmarton

Tadmarton
St. Nicholas' parish church
Tadmarton Location within Oxfordshire
Area	8.38 km^2 (3.24 sq mi)
Population	541 (2011 Census)
• Density	65/km^2 (170/sq mi)
OS grid reference	SP3937
Civil parish	Tadmarton
District	Cherwell District
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Banbury
Postcode district	OX15
Dialling code	01295
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Banbury
Website	Tadmarton Village

Tadmarton is a village and civil parish about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Banbury, Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 541,[1] which is a 26% increase on the figure of 430 recorded by the 2001 Census.[2]

Manor

The manor house has a 15th-century barn, believed to have been built for Abingdon Abbey.[3]

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of Saint Nicholas is early Norman. The building was enlarged and the bell tower added in the 13th century.[3] The church is a Grade I listed building.[4]

The tower has a ring of six bells.[5] Four were originally cast early in the 17th century, but two of these were re-cast in 1923 and 1939. A fifth bell was added in 1761 and the treble was added in 1947.[3]

Air crash

A Vickers Wellington in flight. This is a B Mk II, a model slightly earlier than the B Mk III that crashed at Swalcliffe.

On 31 May 1944 a Vickers Wellington B Mk III bomber aircraft, BK157 of No. 12 Operational Training Unit RAF based at Chipping Warden in Northamptonshire, was on a training flight over north Oxfordshire when the pilot, F/O Donald Driver, DFM, made an evasive diving turn to port. The port wing collapsed and the aircraft crashed at Tadmarton.[6] It burst into flames and all seven crew were killed.[7]

The crew were members of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. F/O Driver and one of the air gunners are buried in Southam Road Cemetery in Banbury, which has a Commonwealth War Graves section. Other members of the crew are buried at Downpatrick in County Down, Hounslow in Middlesex, Huntly in Aberdeenshire, Titchfield in Hampshire and Wick in Caithness.[7]

Amenities

Tadmarton has one public house, the Lampet Arms.[8]

See also

• Pyrton in South Oxfordshire, where an RAF Vickers Wellington Mk IC bomber aircraft crashed in 1943.

References

1. "Area: Tadmarton (Parish): Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
2. "Parish: Tadmarton CP (Parish): Parish Headcounts". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
3. Lobel & Crossley 1969, pp. 150–159.
4. Historic England. "Church of St Nicholas, Main Street (1369852)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
5. Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell Ringers, Banbury Branch
6. "The Commemoration of the Wellington Crash". Tadmarton Village during the World Wars. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
7. "31.05.1944 No 12 O.T.U. Wellington III BK 157 KX-P P/O Donald Driver". Archive Report: Allied Forces. Aircrew Remembered. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
8. The Lampet Arms

Sources and further reading

• Lobel, Mary D; Crossley, Alan, eds. (1969). A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 9. Victoria County History. pp. 150–159.
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 803–804. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.

External links

• Tadmarton Village