West Hanney

Coordinates: 51°37′59″N 1°24′54″W / 51.633°N 1.415°W / 51.633; -1.415

West Hanney is a village and civil parish about 3 miles (5 km) north of Wantage. Historically West and East Hanney were formerly a single ecclesiastical parish of Hanney. East Hanney 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 490.

Archaeology

In September 2009 a metal detecting club held its annual rally at a site in the parish. One detectorist found a Saxon grave from early in the 7th century AD containing the skeleton of a young woman with grave goods including one spindle whorl, two iron knives and two ceramic pots that may have contained food.

Near the grave the detectorist found an ornate circular Saxon metal brooch inlaid with gold, garnets and coral. This type of brooch was previously known from Kent, East Anglia, Essex and Bedfordshire but the one from West Hanney is further west than all previously found examples, making it "a find described as of national importance". It has yet to be determined where the brooch may have been made.

Hanney

Hanney was an ancient ecclesiastical parish about 3 miles (5 km) north of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. It included the villages of East Hanney and West Hanney (known collectively as "The Hanneys") and Lyford. Hanney was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire.

History

The villages were formerly islands in marshland, hence the Old English "-ey" ending of their toponyms. Charney Bassett, Childrey and Goosey are other nearby examples.

Parish churches

The parish church of Saint James the Great, West Hanney was the mother church of the parish. The church of St. Mary, Lyford was built in the Middle Ages as a dependent chapel. East Hanney had a dependent chapel of St. James by 1288 but it was dissolved in the 16th century. A new chapel of St. James the Less was built in the 1850s but then made redundant in the 20th century.

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