Wantage is worth a visit for its history as much as its shops. King Alfred was born here in 849, the Market Place still holds markets every Wednesday and Saturday, and the town centre is small enough to see on foot in a morning. Here are the places to look out for in Wantage and Grove, from King Alfred’s statue and the parish church to the Vale and Downland Museum, the Betjeman Millennium Park and the Williams Experience Centre.
The Bear Hotel
Dating from the 17th century, the hotel retains the coachway through the facade to the yard behind. A carved bear used to stand on the hotel forecourt, but this has long since disappeared.
Betjeman Millennium Park
The park was created by a charitable trust set up by local residents and opened in 2002 as a memorial to Sir John Betjeman, who lived in Wantage from 1951 to 1972. You can reach the park either from The Lamb Inn in Mill Street, or by walking down the small lane (Betjeman Lane) at the West end of the Parish Church.
The park has a poetry trail of stones inscribed with lines from some of his work by the sculptor Alec Peever and information boards, each set adjacent to a seating area.
Convent of St Mary the Virgin
The convent was built from 1854 onwards under the drive and direction of Reverend Butler. The community also set up several other institutes connected with education and missionary work in Wantage and other parts of the country – even in Johannesburg and Poona in India. Not open.
King Alfred’s School
The old school buildings were built from 1849 to commemorate the millennium of King Alfred’s birth, using Cirencester stone, which was transported to Wantage by the Wilts and Berks Canal.
King Alfred’s statue
The statue of King Alfred was unveiled in 1877 to celebrate Wantage as the birthday place of King Alfred the Great. It was commissioned by Lord Wantage, and designed and carved in 1877 by Count Gleichen (a nephew of Queen Victoria) it stands the town centre.
This is written on the base of the statue:
Alfred found learning dead and he restored it
Education neglected and he revived it
The laws powerless and he gave them force
The church debased and he raised it
The land ravaged by a fearful enemy from which he delivered it
Alfred’s name will live as long as mankind shall respect the past
Letcombe Brook
“Letcombe Brook is a chalk stream and these are globally rare. It is fed from groundwater held in the chalk in the hills above Letcombe Regis and Letcombe Bassett.”
“The character of the brook has been shaped and changed by centuries of human endeavour as it was used for water collection, farming and industry.”
“The discovery trail starts at the Vale and Downland Museum and finishes in Willow Walk Nature Reserve. From here you retrace your steps back to the museum.”
Extracts from leaflets (the leaflets can be downloaded by clicking on the photos below, or picked up from the Vale and Downland Museum.
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The old Town Hall
Built in 1878 under the patronage of Lord Wantage, it replaced the previous town hall in the Market Place which was demolished to make way for King Alfred’s statue. It was sold in 1954 and was a bank for many years before being converted to other uses.
The parish church of Saints Peter and Paul
The present building is huge, indicating the town’s great importance as the market centre of the Vale of the White Horse. The nave and base of the tower in the present structure date from the early 13th century, but the rest has been much altered over the next two hundred years.
It is cruciform in plan, with a solid central tower. The interior seems very light and modern, yet houses some ancient treasures. Try not to miss the remnants of medieval glass near the entrance in the south transept: saints, including Stephen with his martyrial stones.
The nave, to the left , has wall monuments to the Stampes (note the horses with their stamping feet ), a 15th century hammer-beam roof on its lively corbel faces and a magnificent dominating organ built in 1997.
Going forward, the central crossing acts as a kind of meeting space between nave, quire and small chapels off the transepts. Here, we find, on the vast pillars, a number of tiny crosses, said by tradition to have been carved by soldiers leaving for the Crusades.
The Sack House
Purchased by the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust in 2012 this small building stands at what was the entrance way to the Wantage canal wharf is now open as a museum and canal information centre. It contains displays on the history of the canal, wharf and the building itself as well as putting it in context of the other associated industrial archaeology ie the Wantage Tramway and the Town Mill. There are a few canal related artefacts to view.
The building itself was a weighbridge, coal merchants and a place where traders could hire sacks to send their produce around the SW of England. The enamel sign on the front is from the sack hiring company.
The Trust aims to open it on one Saturday a month during the summer and on occasional special occasions, depending on the availability of its volunteers. Entrance is free but donations are welcomed for the upkeep and running costs of the museum.
For opening time please visit the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust website using the following link.
Wilts & Berks Canal Trust – East Vale & Abingdon
St Mary’s School
Formerly accommodation for the nuns, the school was established in 1873 for daughters of gentlemen and clergy. The central part of the school was originally a Georgian wool merchants house. The chapel and refectory are by Butterfield who also designed Keble College, Oxford.
The school was closed in 2007.
The Mead
This tranquil farmhouse with Victorian additions was the home of John Betjeman (later Poet Laureate) from 1951 to 1972. It is still a private house. Not open.
Vale and Downland Museum
The Vale and Downland Museum in Church Street has been nationally acclaimed as an outstanding example of community partnership. The range of services is broad, ranging from galleries interpreting the cultural heritage of the Vale of White Horse region, to a cafe with a delightful terrace and garden.
The site was originally part of the medieval manor of Priorshold. The plot of land and the house were leased to Wantage tradesmen after the dissolution of the priory in 1538. Lawrence Hazell, a clothmaker, was responsible for the major rebuilding of the house in 1780, commemorated by the date stone bearing his initials over the central first storey window. In the mid-19th century the house became the doctor’s surgery and remained so until 1974, hence its present name, the Old Surgery.
In the mid 1970s, the newly-formed Vale of White Horse District Council bought the site and leased it to the museum trust to provide a new home for the museum. The Vale & Downland Museum opened in 1983 and major improvements to the main gallery were completed in 1999.
Victoria Cross Gallery
In about 1890 Lord Wantage turned the former Corn Exchange into a gallery to display a collection of pictures depicting Victoria Cross heroes, which included himself at Inkerman during the Crimean War. He later gave the collection and the gallery to the Town Council, who used it as a dance hall. It has now been converted into a shopping arcade.
Wantage almshouses
There are three sets of almshouses in Wantage.
Robert Stiles Almshouses, built in Stiles Court, just off Newbury Street. There are sheep’s knuckles embedded into the pathway. These almshouses still provide a home for elderly folk. They are the result of a legacy from the will of Robert Stiles who was born in the town but made his fortune in the Netherlands. He died in 1680.
Mill Street Almshouses, built 1868-1871.
Eagles Close Almshouses, built in 1867. There is a water pump in the terrace gardens. Thomas Eagle left the land “…out of respect to the memory of his beloved and affectionate wife, a native of Wantage, as an asylum for decayed housekeepers”. The interesting ecclesiastical features reflect the church’s involvements with housing. Today the almshouses provide attractive housing for retired people in the town. Not open.
Wessex Mill
Wessex Mill on Mill Street in Wantage was run by the Munsey family (Clarks of Wantage) for over a century, milling flour from locally grown wheat. Milling in Wantage stopped at the end of 2022 because of rising electricity costs; the Wessex Mill brand is now milled by Doves Farm at Hungerford. The original water-powered mill over the Letcombe Brook is now flats.
Wantage Market Garden
Visitors are welcome at the Wantage Market Garden during the Sunday work parties, usually 2 to 4pm, and at its spring and autumn open days. It is the home of the black mulberry tree planted by Princess Diana in 1983. The garden is run by a partnership between Sustainable Wantage, Style Acre and Oxfordshire County Council and contains flower, fruit and vegetable gardens.
Visitors are welcome to just walk around, chat to the gardeners, join in a gardening activity, have a cup of tea with us or maybe buy a plant or two.
Find the garden behind the Wantage Community Support Services building, Charlton Village Road, Wantage, OX12 7HG.
Williams Experience Centre, Grove
Williams F1 is located in Grove amid 40 acres of landscaped grounds. Originally the team’s base for its Le Mans project, the building was converted in 2002 into a conference centre and is now the Williams Experience Centre, home to the team’s heritage collection of racing cars, which can be seen on booked tours and events.
Plan your visit
Park in one of the town car parks (see getting to Wantage), pick up a town map, and find somewhere to eat in the directory. For the countryside around the town, see the Ridgeway and White Horse Hill, and for longer trips, days out near Wantage.