Balscote

Balscote
240px The Butchers Arms, with St. Mary Magdalene parish church in the background.
Balscote  Balscote shown within Oxfordshire
OS grid reference	SP3941
Civil parish	Wroxton
District	Cherwell
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
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	Banbury
Website	Wroxton & Balscote Community Web Site
List of places UK England Oxfordshire

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.

Buildings

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.

Famous residents

• Nicholas de Balscote (died 1320), Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer was born in Balscote.
• Alexander Petit (died 1400), one of the dominant figures in late fourteenth century Ireland, was also a native of Balscote. He held many important offices including Bishop of Ossory, Bishop of Meath and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. As was usual at the time he was more commonly referred to, not by his family name, but his birthplace, as Alexander de Balscot. He may have been a relative of Nicholas de Balscote, who is known to have appointed several family members to positions in Ireland, or they may simply have shared a birthplace.

References

• Balscote Methodist church.jpg

  Balscote Methodist church

• Balscote village.jpg

  Balscote in the snow

External links

• Balscott in the Domesday Book