Stonesfield

Stonesfield is a village in Oxfordshire, England on the eastern extremity of the Cotswolds.

Combe, North Leigh, Ramsden, Finstock, Charlbury, Glympton and Wootton are the closest villages to Stonesfield. East End and Fawler are nearby hamlets. The land rises with small gradient to the north and east of the village before descending into the Glyme valley at Glympton and Wootton. South of the village is an escarpment below which is the River Evenlode. Beyond the river lies part of the portion of the London Paddington to Hereford Cotswold line railway between Combe railway station and Charlbury station.

Transport

The nearest rail link is Charlbury station. There is an hourly bus service to Oxford. The service was provided, from the 1920s until 2004 by Worths' Coaches of Enstone. In 2004 the franchise was awarded to Stagecoach who run the service with double decker buses rather than coaches. This proved unpopular with many villagers who used the service to commute into Oxford.

Politics

Stonesfield is in the parliamentary constituency of Witney. The member of parliament is (as of 2006) David Cameron. Stonesfield is in Oxfordshire in the district of West Oxfordshire. The market town is Witney. The district council meets here. There are two district councillors as Stonesfield is a joint ward with Tackley. They are the long-serving independent Derrick Millard and Charles Cotrell-Dormer. The long-serving County Councillor, the socialist and former Labour group leader, Brian Hodgson lost his seat in the May 2005 election.

History

Stonesfield is mentioned in the Domesday Book when it was named Stunsfeld (meaning "fools field"). This was because of the stony nature of the soil in the area, so the mutation of the name is actually most appropriate. Before 1900 Stonesfield was principally a farming and slate mining village. This type of limestone slate is commonly seen on the roofs of the Cotswolds and the Vale of White Horse. Many of the older buildings of Oxford University have Stonesfield slate on the roofs. The first fossilised bones to be described as those of a dinosaur - of the species Megalosaurus - were found close to Stonesfield and named in 1824 by William Buckland. The slate-mining activities unearthed many finds in succeeding years. Less than a mile from Stonesfield there is an excavated Roman villa with full public access.

During the 1960s and 1970s new houses were built on the eastern side of the village. Most of these and all of the old cottages and larger modern houses in the original part of the village are now unaffordable to the children of locals, who are often forced to move from the area.

Residents of Stonesfield

The artist Rob Hain lived in Stonesfield from 1962 until 1980 when he moved to the Scottish Borders. At the instigation of Gordon Rudlin, Rob worked on a series of mural panels for the village hall which his father, Bob Hain, had helped to raise funds to build. It would not be an understatement to say that Bob has devoted a good deal of his life to the village and he is a well known character. It used to be joked that Bob was a member of every club and society in the village except the Women's Institute (and he used to be the teller for their elections at the AGM). As well as being involved with the village hall, he has also run the youth club; started the tennis club; been an active member of the Church and also helps run the St. James's Centre lunch club at the old school. He ran CHAD (Cheshire Homes Aids for the Disabled) for ten years, sending discarded wheelchairs abroad, for which he received the M.B.E. His philosophy of life is to 'do something'; many people lead their lives trying to feather their own nests with little regard for othets worse off than themselves. Bob has left a lasting trace, not of himself - which he would clearly not want - but of the duty of every individual to make the world a better place. Also Andy visits a lot, and he is amazing.

Notable people associated with Stonesfield

* The composer Robert Sherlaw Johnson lived in Stonesfield from the late 1960s until his death in 2000.
* Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, lived in Stonesfield until her election as an MEP in 1999.
*Walter Padbury, the Australian pioneer and philanthropist, was born in Stonesfield, and arrived in Western Australia in February 1830.