Balscote | |
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![]() The Butchers Arms, with St. Mary Magdalene parish church in the background. |
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Balscote shown within Oxfordshire | |
OS grid reference | SP3941 |
Civil parish | |
District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Banbury |
Postcode district | OX15 |
Dialling code | 01295 |
Police | Thames Valley |
Fire | Oxfordshire |
Ambulance | South Central |
EU Parliament | South East England |
UK Parliament | |
Website | Wroxton & Balscote Community Web Site |
Balscote is a village in the civil parish of Wroxton, Oxfordshire, about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Banbury. Its toponym is sometimes spelt Balscott.
The earliest features of the Church of England parish church of St. Mary Magdalene include a Norman font and an Early English style window. Most of the present church building is 14th century, in the Decorated Gothic style. St. Mary Magdalene's is now one of eight ecclesiastical parishes in the Ironstone Benefice.
Many of Balscote's buildings are of local Hornton Stone. Priory Farm is a 14th-century hall, extended in the 15th century and modernised in the 17th and 18th centuries. Grange Farm is a 15th- or early 16th-century house, extended and modernised in the 17th and 18th centuries. Both houses may have been built by the owners of nearby Wroxton Abbey.
Balscote has one public house, The Butchers Arms, which belongs to the Hook Norton Brewery.
Since 1997 Balscote Village Hall Trust, a registered charity, has been planning and fund-raising to build a community hall. Work started in October and the Timber Structure was delivered on site, this is expected to be ready by early November 2010 after more than 13 years of Fund Raising and Planning. The Structure is being supplied and built by Timberworks Europe, who specialise in Sustainable, Eco-Friendly Timber Buildings for both Domestic and Commercial use.
Balscote Methodist church
Balscote in the snow