Black Bourton is a village and civil parish about 2 miles (3 km) south of Carterton, Oxfordshire. The village is on Black Bourton Brook, a tributary of the River Thames. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 266.[1]RAF Brize Norton adjoins the parish. The northern boundary of the parish is along the middle of the main runway of the airfield.
Church and chapel
Church of England
The Church of England parish church of Saint Mary the Virgin was originally built about 1190.[2] The five-bayarcade between the nave and north aisle survives from this time. In the 13th century the chancel, nave and north aisle were remodelled, and the easternmost bay of the aisle was projected northward to form a north transept.[2]Early English Gothiclancet windows in chancel, nave and north chapel date from this time. The north doorway of the north aisle dates from the 14th century. In the 15th century the bell tower was built into the nave and the stone pulpit was built.[2] By the end of the 16th century the north transept had become the memorial chapel of the Hungerford family. Built into the north wall is a substantial stone monument to Eleanor Hungerford (died 1592): a recumbent effigy framed by Corinthian columns. The chapel also includes an English Baroquecartouche to Anthony Hungerford (died 1703) on the west wall.[2] Black stone plaques on the floor record other members of the family.
By 1757 the tower had a ring of five bells including the sanctus bell. Henry I Knight of Reading cast three of them including the tenor bell in 1618–19. Henry III Bagley, who had bell-foundries at Chacombe and Witney, cast the third bell in 1743. In 1866 Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry re-cast the second bell, which had long been cracked, and added a new treble bell. The frame is oak, was made in the late Middle Ages and by 1965 required replacement. In 1966 the tenor bell of 1619 was transferred to the parish church of St John the Evangelist in Carterton. Due to the condition of the frame the bells remaining at St Mary's were unringable[4] until 2017, when John Taylor & Co of Loughborough restored them and added a new treble bell, increasing the ring of bells to six.[8] St Mary's churchyard includes 32 Commonwealth War Graves Commission burials. There are 30 Second World War burials, one from the First World War and one other.[9] Most of the Second World War graves are of members of the RAF and allied air forces from RAF Brize Norton. The parish is now part of the Benefice of Shill Valley and Broadshire.
Chapel
A Primitive Methodist congregation was established in the village in the 19th century and built its own red brick chapel in 1861.[10][11]
Occasionally aircraft flying to or from RAF Brize Norton have crashed in Black Bourton parish. On 27 August 1944 an Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle ST Mk V of No. 297 Squadron RAF overshot the runway, clipped a tree in Black Bourton and then crashed in a field at Mill Farm. The aircraft caught fire and all five crewmen were killed.[12] In August 2020 a memorial plaque mounted on a small cairn was installed at Mill Farm to commemorate the crew.[13]
Amenities
Black Bourton has a gastropub and hotel, The Vines.[14]
Lupton, Mary. History of the Parish of Black Bourton, Otherwise Called Burton Abbots, in the County of Oxford. Oxford: Oxfordshire Archaeological Society.