Letcombe Bassett, Berkshire

Description
Letcombe Bassett, a parish in Berks, on the Ridgeway, 2 1/2 miles SW by S of Wantage, and 4 1/2 from Wantage Road Station on the G.W.R. Post town and money order and telegraph office, Wantage. Acreage, 1631; population, 191. An ancient camp called Letcombe Castle is here on the Ridge Way. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford; net value, £105 with residence. Patrons, Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The church, which was erected about 1100 A.D., is a building of stone and flint in the Norman style, was lengthened and a tower added about 1200, was thoroughly repaired and an aisle added in 1862, and contains a Norman font. There are a Wesleyan chapel and some charities. Dean Swift retired hither in 1713 and wrote his pamphlet entitled " Free Thoughts on the Present State of Affairs."