Like many settlements that were feudal in origin the village of West Woodhay developed around its main house; the village is essentially a large square, the centre of which is mostly fields and woods, with West Woodhay House in one corner and the other houses and cottages distributed around the square and along roads leading to the corners of the square.
As in many other villages, the original church was beside the House – it was replaced in the nineteenth century with one rather closer to the Rectory of the time, and most of the other buildings in the village were built, rebuilt or extended at this time. With minor exceptions in the 1960s any further “new building” has been generally restricted to conversion or extension of the nineteenth century building stock, so the village retains a little of the feel of that time.
Please click here for the history of this village or here for the history of the church.
Sheep across West Woodhay fields