Editing Wantage (section)

==History==
[[File:St Peter and St Paul, Wantage - geograph.org.uk - 1547576.jpg|thumb|left|[[Church of St Peter and St Paul, Wantage|Saints Peter and Paul Parish Church]]]]
Wantage was a small [[Roman Britain|Roman]] settlement{{cn|date=March 2025}} but the origin of the [[Toponymy|toponym]] is somewhat uncertain. It is generally thought to be from an [[Old English]] phrase meaning "decreasing river".{{cn|date=March 2025}} King [[Alfred the Great]] was born at the royal palace there in the 9th century,<ref name=Wood /> in what was originally known as Wanating.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hamerow |first1=Helena |title=The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xucNJfS42PwC&q=wanating&pg=PA995 |access-date=19 February 2020 |page=995|isbn=9780199212149 |date=31 March 2011 |publisher=OUP Oxford }}</ref> Wantage appears in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086. Its value was £61 and it was in the king's ownership until [[Richard I of England|Richard I]] passed it to the [[Earl of Albemarle]] in 1190. Weekly trading rights were first granted to the town by [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] in 1246.{{cn|date=March 2025}} Markets are now held twice weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays.<ref name=market>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxtowns.co.uk/wantage/info.html |title=OXTowns: Wantage Local Information |date=2003 |publisher=OXLink Ltd |access-date=5 October 2011}}</ref> [[Cavalier|Royalist]] troops were stationed in Wantage during the [[English Civil War]].{{cn|date=March 2025}}

In the 19th century, [[Robert Loyd-Lindsay, 1st Baron Wantage|Lord Wantage]] became a notable local and national benefactor.{{cn|date=March 2025}} He was very involved in founding the [[British Red Cross]] Society.{{cn|date=March 2025}} In 1877 he paid for a marble statue of King Alfred by [[Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg|Count Gleichen]] to be erected in Wantage market place, where it still stands today.{{cn|date=March 2025}} He also donated the [[Victoria Cross]] Gallery to the town.{{cn|date=March 2025}} This contained paintings by [[Louis William Desanges]] depicting deeds which led to the award of a number of [[Victoria Cross|VCs]], including his own gained during the [[Crimean War]]. It is now a shopping arcade.{{cn|date=March 2025}} Wantage is home to the [[Community of Saint Mary the Virgin]], founded by the vicar of Wantage [[William John Butler]] in 1848; it was once one of the largest communities of [[Anglican]] [[nun]]s in the world. Wantage once had two breweries which were taken over by [[Morland Brewery|Morlands of Abingdon]].  In 1988 the town was thrust into the headlines after a ''Brass Tacks'' programme entitled "Shire Wars" exposed the drunken violence that plagued the town and surrounding villages at that time.<ref>{{cite web|title=Shire Wars (1988)|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b793a2e42|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102085529/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b793a2e42|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 January 2017|website=British Film Institute|access-date=1 January 2017}}</ref>