Roger Sweet's Pictures of Ashbury

The Village centre in Ashbury

Ashbury is a pretty, small village at the foot of the Berkshire Downs with an attractive blend of chalk and stone cottages, many of them thatched. In the centre is a small triangular green with a well-kept war memorial and a thoughtfully placed seat. The name Ashbury is thought to mean 'Ash Tree covered Fort', the fort in question being an Iron Age hill fort now known as Alfred's Castle, a couple of miles south in the downs near Ashdown House and Park. King Alfred's birthplace was later to become the Vale town of Wantage and King Alfred, and his campaign against the Danes, is linked either in fact or fiction to many places in and around the Downs. A famous defeat of the Danes is said to have been the result of The Battle of Ashdown which is thought to have taken place near the Berkshire village of Compton.

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Ashbury, Village Scenes

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The Manor House, Ashbury

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Ashbury, Village Scenes, Buildings and Structures

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The Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Ashbury, Oxfordshire

By comparison with other nearby villages the parish church, the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, is large. Set on a hilltop, it has fine views across the parish and is approached by foot up a steep cobbled path to the entrance. Parts of St. Mary's date from the 12th century although most of the building dates only from the 13th to 15th centuries. There has been a church at Ashbury since the 10th century when monks attached to Glastonbury Abbey lived at Ashbury Manor.

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Ashbury, Churches, Oxfordshire Churches

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Thatched period cottage in Ashbury

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Ashbury, English Cottages, Oxfordshire

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Thatched period cottage in Ashbury

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Ashbury, English Cottages

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Teddy on the post in Ashbury

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Ashbury, Buildings and Structures

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