Whatcote

The Domesday Book records that in 1086 Hugh de Grandmesnil, one of William the Conqueror's military commanders, owned the manor of Whatcote.^[4] In the latter half of the 14th century Thomas Stafford, 3rd Earl of Stafford acquired the manor.^[4] It remained with the Stafford family until 1520 when Edward Stafford conveyed the manor to Sir William Compton.^[4] It remained with the Compton family, the Marquess of Northampton until early in the 19th century, but by 1826 it had been acquired by Sir Adolphus Dalrymple.^[4] By 1865 Sir Adolphus had sold it to the Peach family, who in turn sold it to Thomas Parker.^[4]

The Church of England parish church of St. Peter was built in the first half of the 12th century.^[4] The nave survives from this period, with a Norman doorway and two Norman windows in the north wall.^[5] The tower and several windows in the south wall were added late in the 13th century and the chancel was rebuilt in about 1300.^[5] One of the windows in the south wall of the chancel is a 14th-century addition.^[4] The south porch, and the parapet and two of the bell-chamber windows of the tower, are 15th century additions.^[4] In the 16th or 17th century a buttress was added to shore up part of the north wall.^[4] A German bomb badly damaged the nave and porch in 1941 and the building was restored in 1947.^[4]

The church tower has three bells. The tenor had been cast in 1652^[6] but was recast by Henry Bond of Burford,^[7] Oxfordshire in 1897.^[8] John Clark of Evesham^[7] cast the second bell in 1711.^[8] The treble bell was cast in 1766^[6] but was recast by William Blews & Sons of Birmingham^[7] in 1878.^[8] In the churchyard are the base and shaft of a medieval cross, from which the top has been lost and replaced with a 17th or early 18th century sundial.^[5] St. Peter's is now part of a single benefice with the neighbouring parishes of Oxhill and Tysoe.^[9]

Whatcote has a public house, the Royal Oak, which has held a Michelin star since 2020.