Shotteswell Village, Warwickshire

Shotteswell Charities & Former important buildings

Maidens Dole

Recorded charities consist of two pieces of land Maidens Dole  (approx one and three quarters of an acre) and Poor’s Lot (about three quarters of an acre) which was set aside in 1793.  The income from these fields was at one time to be used for the benefit of the poor persons living in the parish. More recently this was changed so that whoever was in the parish at 12noon on Good Friday whether he lived here or a “passer be” was entitled to a loaf of bread which had to be collected from the school. It would appear that some families, which in those days tended to be large, would bring with them their washing baskets to enable them to carry the bread home!

This tradition faded out over the years and the income was then used to buy coal for the senior citizens of the parish. As coal fires dwindled in popularity cheques were given instead towards central heating costs. In 2012, the trustees made the decision to revert back to the traditional custom of the loaves of bread for each household. This is however just one per household. The Charity trustees are the Vicar (ex-offico) and two representatives appointed by the Parish Council.

At one time the village had its own bakery this was to be found originally at the Flying horse and latterly at the (Old) Bakehouse, in Bakehouse Lane.  A mobile delivery service ran from this  parish to surrounding villages, the baker was renowned for his scones and dough cakes. Two village shops existed one at the (Old) Post Office and the other at Red Roof, the latter transferred to the Flying Horse, before finally closing some twenty five years ago. The village used to boast its own milkman who delivered both here and to surrounding  villages, sadly that service has also disappeared . There are still milk deliveries made but these are now from the town of Banbury and only on certain days of the week.

Shotteswell had three pubs at one time, the last to close was the Flying Horse in Middle Lane. Corner Cottage, in Bake House Lane was also a former pub. The Wobbly Wheel pub on the B4100, was formal known as the Hare & Hounds, this has part of its grounds in the parish, but only just.

The Caravan shop on the B4100 between Shotteswell and Warmington stands on the site of the former filling station, this  closed due to the opening of the M40, which at that juncture took a lot of the traffic away (not the case now though) and the local supermarkets branching into fuel sales, which took most of its trade away.

The farm shop on the B4100, (Carpenters farm) had for its neighbour the old police house where the village policeman used to reside.

At one time the village had its own road man, who swept the lanes by hand and scythed the steep grass banks down the valley.

The parish was also served by a mobile butcher, known as Mumfords a firm that had operated a delivery service for many years. The butcher has since ceased his weekly deliveries but has recently relocated with his famous sausages to Meadowsweet Farm shop at Horley, a treat not to be missed!

Shotteswell had six working farms, it now has only four. Much of the land is arable, but we do have some livestock which makes a welcome relief especially in the spring time.

As you enter the village from the B4100 on the turn known as “First Turn” you will note that there is a gentle incline, the turn was modified in the 70’s. There was at one point a big dip in the road that was formally called the A41, this  had become a notorious black spot ( if you study carefully you can see evidence of where the bank has been cut away), the highways department made the modifications to improve the safety . With the modification the familiar stile on the corner of the field and mulberry tree disappeared much to the chagrin of the villagers here at the time.

Fortunately, the mile stone on the First Turn was restored a few years ago by Trevor Dean formally of this parish. Trevor has become a well established stone mason, carrying out much of the  specialist works on historical buildings in the area.

There still remains some families within the village that can trace their ancestry back here in Shotteswell  for more than five hundred years ….

The populations of Shotteswell are given as, 336 in 1841, 242 in 1881, 217 in 1961 and 249 in 2008 of which 52 persons were at that time under the age of 25.

Our last census figures are as follows:-

 Shotteswell Parish Council Census Profile 2011-1

Rail links:

Recently upgraded intercity rail service from Banbury to London/Marylebone, from about 50 minutes; M40 at J11 is convenient for access to London and the south, or at J12 for Birmingham and the Midlands.