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Places to stay in Begbroke
The toponym "Begbroke" is Old English for "Little Brook". This refers to Rowel Brook which runs through the village and was the reason for its early settlement. Rowel Brook is a tributary of the River Cherwell. Fragments of early pottery have been found in the parish, as well as flints, scrapers, and an axe and arrow head. Aerial photographs show ancient crop marks. The Church of England parish church of Saint Michael is a 12th century Norman building. The former Begbroke Hill Farm was owned by the Giffard and FitzHerbert families for nearly 500 years. It was built early in the 17th century for either Humphrey FitzHerbert (died 1616) or his son Robert (died 1632). It is now the site of the Oxford University Begbroke Science Park (which, despite the name, is accessible only from the neighbouring village of Yarnton and but is in the boundary of Begbroke parish). Land belonging to the farm has been designated for an upmarket residential development. Orchard House, next to St. Michael's parish church, also belonged to the FitzHerberts. More recently it was the home of science fiction author Brian Aldiss. Begbroke Manor House was built in about 1700. In the 19th century it became part of the Priory of St. Philip, which until 2000 was the novitiate house for the Roman Catholic Servite Friars in England. It was then sold to a Church of England order of nuns. The brethren of the Servites were well known in the village and served as Air Raid Precautions (ARP) wardens in World War II. Begbroke Place was built in 1906. From 1940 it until 1984 the house was incorporated into the campus of St. Juliana's Convent School, an independent girls' school run by the sisters of the Servite Order. Commuter homes were built in the village beginning in the 1930s, mainly on the east side of the Oxford – Woodstock Road.
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