Duns Tew has a play area located off Main Street just past Daisy Hill Farm. There is a variety of play equipment for children, a tennis court, basketball hoops and an area of grass with football goalposts.

Redevelopment

The Parish Council has selected Play & Leisure to develop the grass field, beyond the tennis court, with a selection of equipment suitable for older children.

Plan

The plan includes fencing around the tennis court (which should make this far more fun to use), a 5-a-side football area, a zip-wire, basket swing, and fitness station.

Funding

Our funding goal is £80,000. This will enable us to complete the redevelopment of the grass field, and fence the tennis court.

Duns Tew is a village located in some stunning North Oxfordshire countryside. There are a number of public footpaths and bridleways radiating out from the village. Please be mindful that some of these pass through fields containing livestock.

The Ordnance Survey map best covering Duns Tew and the surrounds is the Explorer 1:25,000 (4cm to 1km) 191 Map of Banbury, Bicester & Chipping Norton. Available from the OS here: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/maps/explorer-map-banbury-bicester-chipping-norton.html

Oxfordshire County Council maintain an electronic copy of the legal record of public rights of way (the Definitive Map and Statement).

Public rights of way

gov.uk landowner responsibilities

Village Hall 100 Club

For an annual subscription of £12 per person/household, the Village Hall Committee hold a monthly draw for all club members with prizes each month of £20, £15, £10 and £5. Apart from the monthly prizes, all the money raised goes towards the upkeep of our village hall, keeping this wonderful facility available to everyone for village activities, and to hire for personal events and celebrations. Winners are announced in the newsletter and here on the village website.

If you would like to join or set up a standing order with your bank or building society for the annual subscription, please contact Kate : Tel 01869 347476, Email: kate@eatonhome.co.uk.

Thank you to everyone who has joined, your contributions to the Village Hall funds are very welcome and with prizes drawn every month, you may be lucky and win a prize.

Women’s Institute

On behalf of the Duns Tew WI, we would like to introduce our small and friendly group where visitors are always made very welcome at our meetings. You will discover we are very informal, you can join in activities or not as you decide. What we are definitely NOT is all ‘Jam and Jerusalem’ so whether or not you can make cakes or whether you are a wiz or not at handicrafts is irrelevant – more than anything else we offer friendship.

Our Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 19:30 in the  Village Hall (unless otherwise stated) so why not come to our next meeting where you can catch up with all the plans for this year and maybe help decide plans for the future?

Committee

Mary Gregory PRESIDENT mary.gregory@btinternet.com

Ruth Henderson SECRETARY ruth@andrewhenderson.co.uk

Anita Moore TREASURER anitamoore@outlook.com

Drama group

We are always looking for new members, especially those who just want to help out.

For more information about the Duns Tew Drama Group visit our website or email us at info@dunstewdramagroup.org.uk

Yoga

Duns Tew Village Hall on Mondays, 10:30 – 11:30

Gardening club

We meet on the third Wednesday of the month for a chat about gardening, over a drink in The White Horse. It is not a formal gardening club, just an opportunity to talk about gardens, plants, seeds, weeds and anything else garden related with like-minded people.

During the summer months of May, June, July and August, we meet in gardens in the village. Please contact Jo Lilley for details of where the next meeting is.

Community Action Group (CAG)

Oxford School of Ballet

The Oxford School of Ballet was established in 1978 and offers classical ballet classes to boys and girls age 3-18 years old. We also offer adult ballet classes for complete beginners, through to advanced level.

We pride ourselves in offering high quality ballet tuition by experienced and qualified teachers, in a friendly and nurturing environment.

Timetable: https://www.oxfordschoolofballet.co.uk/timetable

We teach syllabuses of the Royal Academy of Dance and Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, with pupils having the opportunity to take accredited examinations although this is not compulsory.

Duns Tew is a village about 10 miles south of Banbury in North Oxfordshire. With nearby Great Tew and Little Tew, Duns Tew is one of the three villages known collectively as “The Tews”.

The centre of Duns Tew is designated an area of special architectural and historic interest to be preserved and enhanced.

The origins of the village name would seem to date back to Anglo-Saxon times, where a “Tiewe” described a ridge of land, or meeting point of two different types of soil. Duns Tew is situated on the North Aston fault, separating clay in the north from limestone & sand to the south.

Duns Tew can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086 – a copy of the entry can be found in the church. At this time the population of the village numbered 53. This has fluctuated over the centuries, reaching a low of 14 after the Black Death. Today, by comparison, Duns Tew has a population of just over 500.

Welcome Pack

We hope that the information contained in this Welcome Pack will help you to settle more comfortably in your new home and the village. We have tried to gather as much useful, up to date and relevant information as possible.

If you know of anyone who needs a welcome pack, please contact Juliet Semple

Newsletter

A dedicated group of volunteers deliver the monthly village newsletter to your home. The newsletter is produced each month by Susan Birks

Newsletter archive and subscription information here

The White Horse Inn

The White Horse is a quintessential 17th century English coaching inn set on the eastern side of the Cotswolds in the charming village of Duns Tew.

With original flagstone floors, beams and real fires. The White Horse has a relaxed and friendly atmosphere making it the perfect place to enjoy a drink or meal with friends. Our south facing terrace is perfect on warm days. Well behaved children and dogs are welcome.

The White Horse has greeted travellers for the last three hundred years. Little is known of the early history of this late 17th century hostelry, but there was certainly an Inn here. Inn keepers are recorded here up to the present day, with its own brew-house run by a Maltster, in the early 17th century. The brew-house is now the site of the gents’ loo. Towards the end of 1981 The White Horse was remodelled with the addition of a dining room, but it was still a true Inn as there was stabling and fodder for a traveller’s horse as well as Bed and Breakfast for the rider. In the last decade of the 17th century the White Horse was again developed to the arrangement seen now, with a new Kitchen, Dining Room and Bar, in a traditional style, and extended bedroom accommodation.

https://dunstewwhitehorse.co.uk/

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g1096367-d3541558-Reviews-White_Horse_Inn-Duns_Tew_Oxfordshire_England.html?m=19905

Public access defibrillator

An Automated External Defibrillator (AED) can be found in the old BT telephone box opposite the entrance to Daisy Hill Farm on Main Street (in between the church and the pub). The cabinet is unlocked to ensure 24/7 easy access. If you have cause to use the defibrillator please, after use, contact Councillor Juliet Semple (01869 349214) or Jean Ralfe, Parish Clerk (01869 349012) so they can ensure the pads and batteries are replaced. If you see anyone either vandalising or attempting to steal the defibrillator please contact the police immediately on 999

Poors land

William Raves (d. 1631) by will left £40 to be loaned ‘on good security’ free of interest to the poor of Duns Tew, no one to receive more than £5 or less than £1. In the late 18th century there was uncertainty over the terms of the bequest which, it was thought, should comprise £40 to be lent with interest and £40 without. The actual money available had shrunk to £19. By 1825 the trustees believed that interest should be charged on loans to landholders but not on loans to tradesmen; at that date £33 was on loan, £10 was in the hands of the vicar, and £17 had been written off as bad debts. Interest received was paid out in money and fuel at Christmas.

Elizabeth Chamberlain (d. 1819) bequeathed £5 5s., the income to be distributed to the poor of Duns Tew as her executors saw fit. They gave away 5s. and invested the remainder, the interest being distributed with the Raves bequest at Christmas. The capital of the two charities had increased to £41 by 1868 and to £58 a century later, when the income was £1 8s.

At enclosure in 1794 c. 5 a. was allotted as poors’ land in exchange for furze-cutting rights. Rent from the land was £12 12s. in 1825, £15 in 1871, and £20 in 1971, the money used to buy coal which was distributed at irregular intervals.

Amalgamation of all the charities was proposed repeatedly from 1969 but postponed in 1974 for the lifetime of the then tenant of the poors’ land.

Charity Number 203638