
About
A small village with many interesting buildings. The church of All Saints (1827) has features modelled on three Oxford colleges. There is a Gothic fountain on the village green described by Pevsner as ‘hideously ugly with water dripping from a rude spout’.
Housed in the remains of the old medieval church, Churchill and Sarsden Heritage Centre (open weekend afternoons from April to September) is in a stunning setting overlooking the site of the ‘lost’ village of Churchill, destroyed by fire in 1684. The building may be only 15' by 30' but its ancient walls contain touch screens telling the remarkable stories of two eminent sons of the village, Warren Hastings, first Governor-General of India (1732-1818) and geologist William Smith (1769-1839), as well as the part played in the community by the village squire, James Langston (1796-1863).
There is a memorial to William Smith ‘father of geology’ opposite the village hall, formerly the village reading room.