King's Sutton | |
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King's Sutton's central and village green in 2009 |
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King's Sutton shown within Northamptonshire | |
Population | 2,069 (2001 census) 2,112 (2011 Census) |
OS grid reference | SP4936 |
• London | 62 miles (100 km) |
Civil parish |
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District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Banbury |
Postcode district | OX17 |
Dialling code | 01295 |
Police | Northamptonshire |
Fire | Northamptonshire |
Ambulance | East Midlands |
EU Parliament | East Midlands |
UK Parliament | |
Website | King’s Sutton Parish Council website |
King's Sutton is a village and civil parish in South Northamptonshire, England in the valley of the River Cherwell. The village is about 4 miles (6.4 km) south-east of Banbury, Oxfordshire.
The parish includes the hamlets of Astrop contiguous with eastern end of King's Sutton and Upper Astrop about 1 mile (1.6 km) north-east, in the same area as the shrunken villages of Great and Little Purston.
The village toponym means the King's south estate.
Blacklands, in the parish 0.5 miles (800 m) north of the village, is the site of a Roman town. Coins from the 4th century AD have been recovered from the site.
The infant Saint Rumwold (or Rumwald, Rumbold or Rumbald) is said to have lived and died at King′s Sutton in 662. Rumwold is said to have lived for only three days but professed his faith continuously during his life.
The English Civil War helped develop Banbury’s then arms industry. The Royalist garrison was constantly at work early in 1645 digging saltpetre in King's Sutton and making gunpowder out of it in a house specially built near Banbury. Just over 10 years earlier a government saltpetreman had operated at Banbury for a year, having moved there from the then small market town of Coventry, before moving on to Hook Norton a short while afterwards. King's Sutton was a local centre for saltpetre excavation and digging at the time.
The oldest parts of the Church of England parish church of Saints Peter and Paul are the Norman font and largely Norman chancel. The north aisle was added in the 13th century and the south aisle early in the 14th century. The bell tower and most of the windows are Decorated Gothic. The spire was added to the tower probably late in the 14th century, raising the steeple to a height of 198 feet (60 m). Sir Nikolaus Pevsner considered it "one of the finest, if not the finest, spire in this county of spires". The south porch, north aisle, west window and very fine east window of the chancel are Perpendicular Gothic.