The Lockinge Estate is a 3,035-hectare (7,500-acre) agricultural and housing estate near Wantage that today includes most of the land and property encompassing the villages of West Lockinge, East Lockinge and Ardington.[1] The current manager of the Lockinge Estate is Thomas Loyd.[2] Almost the entire estate is included within the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

A road near Bitham Farm, on the Lockinge Estate

The ancient Icknield Way passed through the estate,[3] as does the modern-day National Cycle Route 544.[4]

History

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Following consecutive land purchases the between 1859 and 1870,[5] the estate became one of the largest in England.[6] The estate grew in character under the ownership of Lady Harriet and Robert Loyd-Lindsay, 1st Baron Wantage, who significantly improved housing and services for the estate workers and attempted to create a worker's model village.[7][8] Lord Wantage also had Lockinge House extended and renovated,[8][9] complete with a large ice house and orangery.[10]

The estate was modernised under Christopher Loyd following World War Two, who had Lockinge House demolished in 1947,[9] established the Lockinge Stud, and established the Lockinge Trust to provide affordable housing.[11] The Lockinge Trust and the Village Housing Charitable Trust continue to manage housing and historic issues on the estate.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "About Lockinge Estate". Lockinge Estate. Lockinge Estate. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  2. ^ "Obituary: Christopher Loyd". Lockinge Estate. Lockinge Estate. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  3. ^ Thomas, Edward Jr. (1916). The Icknield Way. London: Constable & Company Ltd. p. 51. ISBN 978-1447471929. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  4. ^ "Didcot, Wantage and The Ridgeway". Sustrans.org.uk. Sustrans. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  5. ^ "D-block GB-440000-186000: Lockinge Estate, Ardington (1)". Doomsday Reloaded. BBC. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  6. ^ "The thirty landowners who own half a county". Who owns England?.
  7. ^ Oxfordshire County Council, The Staff of the Dept. of Leisure & Arts; Lange, John (1997). "Robert Loyd-Lindsay Lord Wantage of Lockinge" (PDF). Vale and Downland Museum - Local History Series: 10. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  8. ^ a b Page, William; Ditchfield, P. H., eds. (1924). "Parishes: East and West Lockinge". A History of the County of Berkshire. Vol. 4. London: Victoria County History. pp. 307–311. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  9. ^ a b Ford, David Nash. "Lockinge House". Royal Berkshire History. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  10. ^ "Lockinge Orangery". westwaddy ADP Architects and Town Planners. westwaddy ADP Architects and Town Planners. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  11. ^ "Obituary: Larch Loyd". The Telegraph. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2015.

51°35′N 1°23′W / 51.59°N 1.38°W / 51.59; -1.38