Wantage 5.35

Wantage is a market town and civil parish in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. The town is on Letcombe Brook, about 8mi south-west of Abingdon, west of Didcot, 15mi south-west of Oxford and north north-west of Newbury.Historically part of Berkshire, it is notable as the birthplace of King Alfred the Great in 849. In 1974 the area administered by Berkshire County Council was greatly reduced, and Wantage, in common with other territories South of the River Thames, became part of a considerably enlarged Oxfordshire.HistoryWantage was a small Roman settlement but the origin of the toponym is somewhat uncertain. It is generally thought to be from an Old English phrase meaning "decreasing river". King Alfred the Great was born at the royal palace there in the 9th century. Wantage appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. Its value was £61 and it was in the king's ownership until Richard I passed it to the Earl of Albemarle in 1190. Weekly trading rights were first granted to the town by Henry III in 1246 Markets are now held twice weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Royalist troops were stationed in Wantage during the English Civil War.