Filkins


For people with the surname, see Filkins.
Filkins is a village in the civil parish of Filkins and Broughton Poggs, about southwest of Carterton in Oxfordshire.

Church and chapel

Church of England

The Gothic Revival architect G.E. Street designed the Church of England parish church of Saint Peter, and it was built in 1855–57. The parish is now part of the Benefice of Shill Valley and Broadshire, which includes also the parishes of Alvescot, Black Bourton, Broadwell, Broughton Poggs, Holwell, Kelmscott, Kencot, Langford, Little Faringdon, Shilton and Westwell.

Methodist

The Methodist chapel was dedicated in 1833.

Local government

Filkins was historically a hamlet in the ancient parish of Broadwell. It became a separate civil parish in 1896, within Witney Rural District. In 1954 the civil parish was merged with the parish of Broughton Poggs to form the civil parish of Filkins and Broughton Poggs, part of West Oxfordshire since 1974.

Social and economic history

occupies a 17th-century cottage in Filkins and stands alongside the former village lock-up. George Swinford founded the museum in 1931 with the help of Sir Stafford Cripps.
In 2007 the Filkins estate, which Sir John Cripps bequeathed upon his death in 1993, but which had been partly passed over to the Ernest Cook Trust since then, was fully transferred to the Trust's portfolio. The Filkins Estate is on the county boundary between Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire and includes one farm and a number of cottages, with a small area of commercial units housing the Cotswold Woollen Weavers and Filkins Stone Company.

Amenities

Filkins has a public house, the Five Alls. The village has an outdoor swimming pool owned by the Centre Trust which was established by Sir Stafford Cripps under the control of the parish council. The pool, now managed by the Filkins Swimming Club, is open from May until September. Next to it are the village shop, post office and bowls club. A large 18th-century barn is now the premises of Cotswold Woollen Weavers, which set up business there in 1982, and is the last company in the area to uphold the traditions of woollen cloth design and manufacture. Filkins has a theatre club. The former village school is now a pre-school nursery.