West Challow
Village in Oxfordshire, England
title: "West Challow" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-in-oxfordshire", "civil-parishes-in-oxfordshire", "vale-of-white-horse"] description: "Village in Oxfordshire, England" topic_path: "general/villages-in-oxfordshire" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Challow" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Village in Oxfordshire, England ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| official_name | West Challow |
| static_image_name | St Laurence, West Challow - geograph.org.uk - 1547588.jpg |
| static_image_caption | St Laurence |
| coordinates | |
| os_grid_reference | SU3688 |
| label_position | top |
| population | 184 |
| population_ref | (2011 census) |
| civil_parish | West Challow |
| shire_district | Vale of White Horse |
| shire_county | Oxfordshire |
| region | South East England |
| country | England |
| post_town | Wantage |
| postcode_district | OX12 |
| postcode_area | OX |
| dial_code | 01235 |
| constituency_westminster | Didcot and Wantage |
| :: |
| official_name = West Challow | static_image_name = St Laurence, West Challow - geograph.org.uk - 1547588.jpg | static_image_caption = St Laurence | coordinates = | os_grid_reference = SU3688 | label_position = top | population = 184 | population_ref = (2011 census) | civil_parish = West Challow | shire_district = Vale of White Horse | shire_county = Oxfordshire | region = South East England | country = England | post_town = Wantage | postcode_district = OX12 | postcode_area = OX | dial_code = 01235 | constituency_westminster = Didcot and Wantage | website =
West Challow is a village and civil parish about 2 mi west of the market town of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse, England. The village is on Childrey Brook, which is a tributary of the River Ock. West Challow was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire. The 2011 census recorded the parish's population as 184.
Etymology
The place-name Challow is first attested in a charter of 947 (though the earliest surviving copy of the charter is twelfth-century) in the Old English phrase "to Ceawan Hlewe", which can straightforwardly be translated as "to Ceawa's burial mound", where Ceawa is a personal name attested only here and in the place-name Chawridge. The name appears as Ceveslane (considered to be a misspelling of Ceveslaue) in the Domesday Book of 1086. Thirteenth-century variants included Chaulea, Chaulauhe, Chawelawe and Shawelawe.
The "West" element in the name, added to distinguish West Challow from East Challow, is first found in 1284 (in such forms as Westcha(e)lawe and Weschallawe).
Parish church
The Church of England parish church of Saint Laurence is part of the Benefice of Ridgeway, along with the parishes of Childrey, Kingston Lisle, Letcombe Bassett, Letcombe Regis and Sparsholt.
Canal
The course of the former Wilts & Berks Canal passes through the parish, skirting the south side of the village. It was extended eastwards from Longcot to Challow in 1807 and was completed to the River Thames at Abingdon in 1810. The Wilts & Berks carried small amounts of canal cargo through Challow until at least 1895–96. Traffic on the canal had virtually ceased by 1901 and the route was formally abandoned in 1914. The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust is currently restoring the canal.
Manor of Challow
The Manor of Challow was granted by King Henry I to Robert Achard between 1107 and 1118, and passed later to Sir William Forster who held it in the early 17th century. Manor Farm is a Grade II* listed Queen Anne building with much older inclusions.
References
Sources
References
- "Area: West Challow (Parish): Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics". [[Office for National Statistics]].
- Victor Watts, ''The Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 124.
- Richard Coates, '[http://www.snsbi.org.uk/Nomina_articles/Nomina_13_Coates.pdf On Some Controversy Surrounding ''Gewissae'' / ''Gewissei'', ''Cerdic'' and ''Ceawlin'']', ''Nomina'', 13 (1989–90), 1–11.
- John Insley, 'Britons and Anglo-Saxons', in ''Kulturelle Integration und Personennamen im Mittelalter'', ed. by Wolfgang Haubrichs, Christa Jochum-Godglück (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2019), §4.
- {{harvnb. Page. Ditchfield. 1924
- Archbishops' Council. (2010). "Benefice of Ridgeway". [[Church of England]].
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