BUSCOT

Buscot is an attractive little Thames-side village very close to the county border with Gloucestershire. Most of this tiny village is along a short cul-de-sac that leads from the ancient village hall to Buscot Lock on the River Thames.

Whereas many villages seem deserted during the day, Buscot is often busy with visitors to the lock and picnic site beside the river, or taking advantage of the tea room attached to the village shop. Buscot is part of the National Trust's Buscot and Coleshill Estates and many of the houses in the village are owned by the National Trust.

At the entrance to the village there is a village hall with a clock tower and a covered well with a standpipe and working tap.

A short distance along the road towards Faringdon is Buscot
Park, an 18th century country house and estate belonging to the National Trust. The contents of the house - paintings, furniture and objets d'art are known as the "Faringdon Collection" and are owned by the Faringdon Collection Trust. The house is occupied and managed by the present Lord Faringdon. Buscot Park is also well-known for its water garden and the Four Seasons Walled Garden which was created by the present Lord Faringdon.

At "Brandy Island" just upstream from Buscot lock is the site of a factory set up in 1869 to distil spirit alcohol from sugar beet. On the island there was also a mill for the manufacture of oil cake, a gas works, an artificial fertiliser works and vitriol works, the latter two using the by-products of the gas works. The factory was short-lived and closed in 1879.

The parish church, the Grade I listed St. Mary's is a short distance downstream from the lock and reached along a pleasant footpath. It has some attractive stained glass windows by William Morris, whose summer residence was Kelmscott Manor a short distance away on the other side of the river. For the history and full information about St. Mary's Church click here.

Buscot is about 2 miles east of Lechlade along the A417.