Page 11 - Ickford Neighbourhood Plan

ICKFORD NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN : 2019 – 2033 : VISION FOR ICKFORD 11

History and Heritage
3.5
3.5 The origins of Ickford probably predate Roman times, and it would
3.5.
3.5
3.5
have been a small settlement with a river crossing. Between the seventh and
ninth centuries the Anglo Saxons came to settle the sparsely populated area and
created the villages of Worminghall, Shabbington and Tiddington and many others
around Bernwode Forest.

3.6.
3.6.
3.6.
3.6. The first documentary evidence of Ickford is in the Doomsday Book
3.6.
of 1086. Estimates based on the record suggest that at this time Ickford was
probably much the same size as the modern parish is today. In the following
centuries change would have been slow. Many of the fields around the village are
characterised by the ridge and furrow produced by the heavy Ox driven ploughs.
Remnants of the three field system (medieval crop rotation) can also be seen on
th
19 Century maps.

3.7.
3.7 Ickford is an example of a polyfocal settlement that grew up around
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3.7
3.7
two manors, it was predominantly an agricultural community, as evidenced by
the number of former farmhouses and agricultural buildings that survive in the
village. The village seems to have gone through a period of economic improvement
in the mid- seventeenth century indicated by the replacement of original wooden
bridges by solid stone versions that still exist today.

3.8.
3.8
3.8
3.8 The village generally remains linear in nature along the three main
3.8
roads. Although in the last 50 years there has been development to the North of
Sheldon Road and East of Worminghall Road, well over 50% of properties in the
village still back onto open green spaces and farmland.
3.9.
3.9. The older parts of Ickford are concentrated in four main areas: Little
3.9.
3.9.
3.9.
Ickford, Church Road, Worminghall Road, and around the Sheldon Road Bridge
Road junction. The majority of historic buildings in the village are located in
these areas and are covered by conservation area designation. The four historic
th
areas have been linked by modern 20 century infilling, particularly to the north
of Sheldon Road.

Education

3.10. Ickford Combined School is an academy school located in the heart
3.10.
3.10.
3.10.
3.10.
of the village for children aged 4 – 11 with a catchment area of Ickford,
Worminghall and Shabbington. There is a Preschool adjoining the Primary school
which also runs a Breakfast Club and an After School Club for children at the
school.
3.11. Local children are in the secondary school catchment area for
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3.11.
3.11.
3.11.
Wheatley Park School and some attend Lord William’s School in Thame, both
across the county border in Oxfordshire. As Ickford parish is in
Buckinghamshire which still maintains the grammar school system, children
of the village are eligible to take the 11 plus exam and attend one of the
three Grammar schools in Aylesbury.

VISION FOR ICKFORD – NEIGHBOURHOOD DEVELOPMENT PLAN
www.visionforickford.co.uk