Kennington, Oxfordshire
Template:Otherplaces2 Kennington is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse District Council area of the English county of Oxfordshire (though it was in Berkshire until 1974), just to the south of Oxford. It sits in a narrow stretch of land between the River Thames and the A34 dual carriageway, and is home to around 4,000 people.
Amenities
There are several local amenities in the village including three shops, a post office and a chemist. The village's public house is called The Tandem. It is located near the local health centre. There are two sports fields: Playfield Road and Forest Side.
Playfield has recently been fitted with floodlights to enable training in the evening/night.
Education
The local primary school is St Swithun's Church of England School. The village is in the catchment area for Matthew Arnold secondary school. Matthew Arnold School is not located in the village but a bus service is provided. Chandlings Manor School, an independent co-educational preparatory school, is nearby.
Building developments
Over the last few years there has been a great increase of building development in the village. This is to allow more housing. The developments are all large houses with large gardens which have been turned into flats. The two exceptions are the building of new houses at the site of the old public house "The Scholar Gypsy"; the pub was named after the local poet Matthew Arnold and flats on the site of the former Kennington Service Station. Recent developments include Strode Court, and Chestnut Place located along Kennington Road, to the north of the village. A new development has been completed at the site of Cranbrook House in the south of the Village on The Avenue.
Parish Council
The Parish Council was created in 1936. Prior to this date Kennington was divided between South Hinksey and Radley parishes. Until 1st April 1974 the parish formed part of the Abingdon Rural District Council area of Berkshire. Since 1974 it has been part of the Vale of White Horse District Council of the enlarged Oxfordshire. According to the minutes of the October 2007 parish council meeting the Chairmen of the parish council from formation have been:
Monty Robinson 1936-1937 Samuel Grundy 1937-1942 George Kirk 1942-1947 George Simpson 1947-1959 Reg Jackson 1959-1962 Ted Perkins 1962-1974 Hettie Perkins 1974-1983 Roger Dennett 1983-1992 Peter Biggs 1992- to date