Ascott-Under-Wychwood

Tom, Dick and Harry - three brothers with the surname Dunston, who were notorious highwaymen - plied their trade in Wychwood Forest in the latter half of the 18th century. The trio rose to infamy by holding up the Gloucester to Oxford stage coach. But their attempt to burgle Tangley Manor between Stow and Burford went less well. The household had been tipped off, and laid a trap. When Dick put his arm through the grille in the front door to unlatch the lock, his arm was noosed and held fast. Rather than let him be caught, Dick's brothers lopped his arm off.
An extract from from"Cotswolds Revisited Photographic Memories".

This scene is still instantly recognisable from the green, where seats encircle a shade giving tree. Behind the spot where the photographer must have stood is Windrush Valley School, founded in 1951, and the low building on the extreme right of the picture, next to the three-gabled house, is the Forge Garage - all indications of meeting the demands of an increased village population over the last few decades. At Domesday there were 26 people recorded here. The number had doubled by the 13th century, and the coming of the railway in 1853 brought new employment to the village that suffered, like many others, during the agricultural depression.
An extract from from"Cotswold Villages Photographic Memories".

As the population of this essentially agricultural area grew, numerous Cotswold churches expanded from their tiny, Norman origins to accommodate the increasing congregation. The work was often funded by wealthy local merchants, particularly those in the wool trade. Piecemeal expansion is evident in many churches in the region, as is it here.
An extract from from"Cotswolds Revisited Photographic Memories".

Midway between the ancient sites of two Norman motte and bailey castles at the extreme ends of the village, Holy Trinity Church is the topographical as well as the spiritual centre of Ascott; old stone houses are grouped round it on all sides. There are traces of all ages in its fabric and furnishings - but most striking is the tapestry covering the west door, which was worked by local people and depicts the village as it is today. Here, pictured with approaching a million stitches, is the parish at work and play, at church and home: the Scouts and Cubs and various clubs, the farms, the train that does not halt at Ascott Halt but can be heard rumbling its way past the village, the Morris dancers, and the Ascott Martyrs - a delightful commemoration of the small community.
An extract from from"Cotswold Villages Photographic Memories".

Along the Evenlode, that gentle Cotswold stream, stands a string of villages all ‘under Wychwood’, that ancient wood that still remains one of the most extensive stretches of woodland in Oxfordshire, but which in earlier times was a substantial forest. With its neighbouring village Shipton-Under-Wychwood, Ascott had a reputation for harbouring poachers in earlier centuries.
An extract from from"Cotswolds Pocket Album".