Nuneham Courtenay | |
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All Saints' parish church, built 1872–74 |
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Nuneham Courtenay shown within Oxfordshire | |
Area | 8.57 km2 (3.31 sq mi) |
Population | 200 (2011 Census) |
• Density | 23/km2 (60/sq mi) |
OS grid reference | SU5699 |
Civil parish |
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District | |
Shire county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Oxford |
Postcode district | OX44 |
Dialling code | 01865 |
Police | Thames Valley |
Fire | Oxfordshire |
Ambulance | South Central |
EU Parliament | South East England |
UK Parliament | |
Website | Nuneham Courtenay Parish Council |
Nuneham Courtenay is a village and civil parish about 5 miles (8 km) southeast of Oxford, it occupies a pronounced section of left bank of the River Thames.
The parish is bounded to the west by the River Thames and on other sides by field boundaries. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 200.
The parish is on a light escarpment running north-east to south-west. Its highest point is a tiny knoll 100 m above mean sea level, about 500 metres SSW of the clustered-cum-linear village (in Harcourt Arboretum, part of a larger easter woodland). Between these points is Windmill Hill where no evidence of a windmill survives. The minimum elevation is 52m to 53m along the Thames which follows the line of the central eminent land. Most of the nature reserve Bluebell Wood is on the eastern slopes, across Marsh Baldon's straight and touching boundary to the village nucleus. The parish covers about 2 km north to the same south-west of the point shown and just over 1% of South Oxfordshire's 67.85 km². Its population was 0.15% of the district's total of 134,257. The Oxford Green Belt Way passes through the parish.
The toponym was Newenham from the 11th century on, until it was changed to "Nuneham" in 1764.
Just southeast of Lower Farm, about 1 1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) northwest of the present Nuneham Courtenay village, is the site of a former Romano-British pottery kiln. The kiln was about 1 1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) west of the Roman road that linked the Roman towns at Dorchester on Thames and Alchester. It began production about 100 CE, producing a wide range of fine wares in the 2nd century and increased its product range in the 3rd century. It then declined, and in about the middle of the 4th century it ceased production. The remains of the kiln were discovered in 1991 during excavations to lay a new water main for Thames Water.