Didcot is a railway town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire and the historic county of Berkshire. Didcot is 15 miles (24 km) south of Oxford, 10 miles (16 km) east of Wantage and 15 miles (24 km) north west of Reading. The town is noted for its railway heritage, Didcot station opening as a junction station on the Great Western Main Line in 1844. Today the town is known for the railway museum and power stations, and is the gateway town to the Science Vale: three large science and technology centres in the surrounding villages of Milton, Culham and Harwell.
South Oxfordshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire, England. Its council is temporarily based outside the district at Abingdon-on-Thames pending a planned move to Didcot, the district's largest town. The areas located south of the River Thames are within the historic county of Berkshire.
The North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is located in the English counties of Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. The name North Wessex Downs is not a traditional one, the area covered being better known by various overlapping local names, including the Berkshire Downs, the North Hampshire Downs, the White Horse Hills, the Lambourn Downs, the Marlborough Downs, the Vale of Pewsey and Savernake Forest.
Wantage is a constituency in Oxfordshire represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by Conservative MP David Johnston.
Henley is a constituency in Oxfordshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2008 by John Howell, a Member of Parliament from the Conservative Party.
Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties are one of the four levels of subdivisions of England used for the purposes of local government outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly. As originally constituted, the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties each consisted of multiple districts, had a county council and were also the counties for the purposes of Lieutenancies. Later changes in legislation during the 1980s and 1990s have resulted in counties with no county council and 'unitary authority' counties with no districts. Counties for the purposes of Lieutenancies are now defined separately, based on the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties.
Wittenham Clumps are a pair of wooded chalk hills in the Thames Valley, in the civil parish of Little Wittenham, in the historic county of Berkshire, although since 1974 administered as part of South Oxfordshire district.
Abingdon was a parliamentary constituency in England, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of England until 1707, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) from 1558 until 1983.
East Hagbourne is a village and civil parish about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Didcot and 11 miles (18 km) south of Oxford. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 1,882.
St Birinus School, previously known as Didcot Boy's County Modern and Didcot Senior Boys, is a boys' academy in Didcot, Oxfordshire, England. St Birinus was founded in 1936 as a secondary modern before becoming a comprehensive in 1973. In September 2012 the school became an academy with the same name. St Birinus' key catchment area includes the town of Didcot and the surrounding rural area, from Harwell in the west to South Moreton in the east and from Long Wittenham in the north to Chilton in the south, however the school also caters for parents in other parts of Oxfordshire who wish their children to be educated in a single-sex environment. As of September 2019 the headteacher is Will Manning. The school is a dual specialist technology college and language college.
South Moreton is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) east of Didcot, 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Wallingford, and 7 miles (11 km) south of Abingdon. It is only separated by the Great Western Railway cutting from its twin village of North Moreton, a quarter of a mile to the north. Mortune took its name in the Domesday Book from the houses on the ridge above the moor of Hakka's Brook, and was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 420.
Little Wittenham is a village and civil parish on the south bank of the River Thames, northeast of Didcot in South Oxfordshire. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire to the county of Oxfordshire and from Wallingford Rural District to the district of South Oxfordshire.
Long Wittenham is a village and small civil parish about 3 miles (5 km) north of Didcot, and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) southeast of Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it from Berkshire to Oxfordshire, and from the former Wallingford Rural District to the new district of South Oxfordshire.
Historically, the English county of Berkshire has been bordered to the north by the ancient boundary of the River Thames. However there were major changes in 1974: the Vale of White Horse and parts of Oxfordshire south of the Thames were previously part of Berkshire, but were lost to the county in 1974. Conversely, the Slough area north of the Thames is historically part of Buckinghamshire, but became ceremonially part of Berkshire in 1974.
West Hagbourne is a village and civil parish in the Berkshire Downs about 2 miles (3 km) south of Didcot. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 259.
North Moreton is a village and civil parish about 2 miles (3 km) east of Didcot. It was part of Wallingford Rural District in Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to the new South Oxfordshire District of Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 328.
Map of boundary as of 1971
