Horspath Village Website Home Page

St Giles Church Horspath

The ancient village of Horspath, active since before 1066, nestles on the slopes of Shotover, one mile outside the boundary of Oxford City and surrounded by Green Belt land. The old bridle-path joining the London Road through the neighbouring village of Wheatley gave the Anglo-Saxon name of "Horsepadan". In the Domesday Book it was recorded in 1086 that "Gilbert holds of Roger 5½ hides in Horspadan". With time "Horsepadan" became "Horsepath", but in 1912 the Parish Council changed to the unique form, "Horspath". The earliest existing Parish Register for "Horsepath" dates back to 1561. Horspath is one of the very few villages around Oxford still to have a "Harvest Feast" every September. Horspath Feast Sunday, the Feast of St Giles, is always the Sunday following the 12th of September, even when the 12th of September falls on a Sunday. Horspath Feast Day, when the funfair comes to Horspath Village Green, and the "end of season" cricket match is played, is always on the Monday after Feast Sunday. The Village Green is transformed on the Monday night by various of the fairground attractions which are still in the area after St. Giles Fair in Oxford. The village church of St. Giles dates from the 12th century, and is one of 15 listed buildings in Horspath.

Horspath Village website is provided by Horspath Parish Council for the benefit of residents of and visitors to this attractive South Oxfordshire village near the University City of Oxford. Please scroll down to find our latest NEWS!

Please note: throughout the Horspath website, underlined text in blue is a link to another web page. Click on the link to go to the new page. The sign indicates an external link. Just close that page and you return to the Horspath website. If you click on an email link, your email system will open a new message waiting to be composed, with the address already in the "To:" line. We want you to enjoy using our website and to obtain all the information we offer about Horspath. You might benefit from reading this website viewing assistance. If you wish to contact us, there are links to "Contact Us" on the left hand side of this page, or you can use this link.

 
Would you like to hear the birds singing in Horspath?
(They take some seconds to tune up.)
 

NEW !
Tuesday 7th September - Monthly Horspath Parish Council Meeting, in Horspath Village Hall at 8:00pm. Villagers are warmly welcome to attend. The Agenda for the meeting is now available to view in PDF format.
Monday 6th September 2010 - Building A Strong Horspath Community, St. Giles Parochial Church Council is holding a very special meeting at 7:30pm in the Methodist Chapel. All villagers are invited, so please come and voice your ideas. See the poster for details.
August 2010 - Horspath Cricket Club are the 2010 MP Sports Cherwell League Division 1 Winners! Read the Oxford Mail article. See the HCC website for photos.
July/August 2010 - St. Giles Horspath Parish Magazine (PDF format 402 Kb) is now available online on the Churches page.
2010 - Horspath Allotments Association News
Would you like an allotment plot in Horspath? See the info poster for details and check the Allotments for Horspath Project web pages.

Please use the "Contact Us" link on the left to leave us your comments,
or to send a message to Horspath Parish Council.

Thank you for visiting Horspath Village web site. Do come back soon and come back often.

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