Coordinates: 51°44′06″N 1°19′55″W / 51.735°N 1.332°W / 51.735; -1.332

Cumnor
St. Michael's parish church
Cumnor  Cumnor shown within Oxfordshire
Population	5,503 (parish, 2001 census)[1]
OS grid reference	SP4604
Civil parish	Cumnor
District	Vale of White Horse
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Oxford
Postcode district	OX2
Dialling code	01865
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Oxford West and Abingdon
List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire

Cumnor is a village and civil parish 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of the centre of Oxford, England. The parish of Cumnor includes Cumnor Hill, (a ribbon development between Cumnor village and Botley), Chawley (at the top of Cumnor Hill), the Dean Court area on the edge of Botley and the outlying settlements of Chilswell, Farmoor and Swinford. The parish was part of Berkshire until the 1974 local government boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.

The village is about 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of Botley and its centre is west of the A420 road to Swindon.

Amenities [link]

Cumnor has two public houses, the Vine and the Bear and Ragged Staff. It also has a newsagent, a butcher, a hairdresser, a post office/greengrocery and a complementary health clinic. There are three churches: the Church of England parish church of Saint Michael in the centre of the village, Cumnor United Reformed Church in Leys Road and Living Stones Christian Fellowship that meets in the Primary School.

The Bear and Ragged Staff public house.

The village has football and cricket clubs, both located on Appleton Road.

Cumnor Primary School has produced many distinguished pupils who have attended schools such as Abingdon School, Magdalen College School, Oxford High School for Girls, Our Lady's Abingdon and the School of St Helen and St Katharine in Abingdon. The local county secondary school is Matthew Arnold School. Oxford School of Music is based in Cumnor Hill.

Notable residents, as of October 2008, included novelist Philip Pullman^[2] and celebrity chef Sophie Grigson.^[3]

History [link]

Cumnor was first mentioned in 931 as Cumanoran. The name is of Old English origin, and appears to mean 'Hillside of a man named Cuma'.^[4]

In Saxon and medieval times the parish was one of the largest in Berkshire, and included Wytham, Seacourt, North Hinksey, South Hinksey and Wootton.

In 1560 Cumnor Place was the scene of the death and suspected murder of Amy Robsart, the wife of Lord Robert Dudley. The house was pulled down in 1810, it is said because her ghost gave the locals so much trouble.

Cumnor is the basis for Lumsdon in Thomas Hardy's novel Jude The Obscure.

See also [link]

• Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor (1903–1984)
• Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech of Cumnor (born 1943)
• Cumnor Hurst

References [link]

Sources & further reading [link]

• Mills, A.D.; Room, A. (2003). A Dictionary of British Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. not stated. ISBN 0-19-852758-6. 
• Page, W.H.; Ditchfield, P.H., eds. (1924). A History of the County of Berkshire, Volume 4. Victoria County History. pp. 398–405. 
• Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966). Berkshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 124–126. 

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cumnor

• Cumnor Parish Record from the Bodleian Library, Oxford University
• Victoria County History of Berkshire

v t e The District of the Vale of White Horse Oxfordshire • County Council elections • District Council elections • Wantage County Constituency • Oxford West and Abingdon County Constituency Towns Abingdon (Caldecott) • Faringdon • Wantage (Belmont) Large villages Blewbury • Cumnor (Chilswell, Cumnor Hill, Dean Court, Farmoor, Swinford) • Drayton • East Challow • East Hendred • Grove • Harwell • Kennington • Kingston Bagpuize with Southmoor (Kingston Bagpuize, Southmoor) • Marcham (Cothill) • Milton • North Hinksey (Botley, Harcourt Hill) • Radley • St. Helen Without (Dry Sandford, Shippon) • Shrivenham • Stanford in the Vale (Bow) • Steventon • Sunningwell (Bayworth, Boars Hill, Foxcombe Hill) • Sutton Courtenay • Watchfield • Wootton (Boars Hill, Henwood, Lamborough Hill) Other civil parishes (component villages and hamlets) Appleford-on-Thames • Appleton-with-Eaton (Appleton, Eaton) • Ardington and Lockinge (Ardington Wick, East Lockinge, West Ginge, West Lockinge) • Ashbury (Idstone, Kingstone Winslow) • Baulking • Besselsleigh • Bourton • Buckland (Gainfield) • Buscot • Charney Bassett • Childrey • Chilton • Coleshill • Compton Beauchamp (Knighton) • Denchworth • East Hanney • Eaton Hastings • Fernham • Frilford • Fyfield and Tubney (Fyfield, Tubney, Netherton) • Garford • Goosey • Great Coxwell • Hatford (Little Hatford) • Hinton Waldrist (Duxford) • Kingston Lisle • Letcombe Bassett • Letcombe Regis • Little Coxwell • Littleworth • Longcot • Longworth • Lyford • Pusey • Shellingford • South Hinksey (Hinksey Hill)• Sparsholt • Uffington • Upton • West Challow • West Hanney • West Hendred (East Ginge) • Woolstone • Wytham (Seacourt) Former districts and boroughs Municipal Borough of Abingdon • Abingdon Rural District • Faringdon Rural District • Wantage Urban District • Wantage Rural District Former constituencies Oxfordshire County Constituency • Abingdon Borough Constituency • Berkshire North or Abingdon County Constituency • Abingdon County Constituency List of Parliamentary constituencies in Oxfordshire • List of places in Oxfordshire • List of civil parishes in Oxfordshire