Edward Pococke, Rector of Childrey
Oxford's first Professor of Arabic, rector of Childrey from the 1640s until 1691; a cedar at the old rectory is said to…
Notable People
Stories from Wantage, Grove and the villages, from the wantage.com archive.
Thomas Hardy and the Vale
Hardy's grandmother grew up at Fawley, which became Marygreen in Jude the Obscure; Wantage became 'Alfredston' and his sisters taught at Denchworth.
Jonathan Swift at Letcombe Bassett
The author of Gulliver's Travels spent summer 1714 at Letcombe Bassett rectory, writing a political pamphlet as the Tory government fell.
Harriet Loyd-Lindsay, Lady Wantage
Heiress, art collector and benefactor of Lockinge who shaped the estate villages, founded Wantage Hall at Reading and raised the Ridgeway cross.
Penelope Chetwode (Lady Betjeman)
Travel writer and Indologist, wife of John Betjeman, who lived at Uffington, Farnborough and Wantage and ran King Alfred's Kitchen tea shop.
Thomas Hughes
Uffington-born author of Tom Brown's School Days and The Scouring of the White Horse, lawyer, MP and Christian Socialist.
Wantage Silver Band
Brass band organisation founded in Wantage in 1972, now running contesting, community, youth and training bands from two band halls.
Dr Dick Squires MBE DL
Wantage GP who rescued old barns and buildings for community use, creating Lains Barn, the Vale and Downland Museum and the Court…
Icknield Way Morris Men and the Wantage Mummers
Wantage morris side begun by Icknield School pupils in 1958, keepers of the Stanton Harcourt dances and of the Wantage Mummers' Boxing…
Lester Piggott
Wantage-born jockey who won the Derby nine times and was champion jockey eleven times; a bronze of him stands in the town…