Didcot

Didcot is a town in Oxfordshire about 10 miles (16 km) south of Oxford. Until 1974 it was part of Berkshire.

Didcot
Population	25,231
OS grid reference	SU525900
• London	54.7m
Civil parish	Didcot
District	South Oxfordshire
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	DIDCOT
Postcode district	OX11
Dialling code	01235
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Wantage
Website	Didcot Town Council

Didcot - a railway town.

History and economy

During the Roman Empire the Romans dug a ditch that runs north through what is now known as the Ladygrove area north of the town near Long Wittenham.

Didcot first appears in historical records in the 13th century as Dudcotte, Berkshire. Parts of the original village still exist in the Lydalls Road area and part of All Saints' Church dates back to the 11th century.

Railways

The Great Western Railway, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, reached Didcot in 1839. In 1844 the Didcot railway station was opened. The original station burnt down in the later part of 19th century.

Didcot is junction of the routes to London, Bristol and Oxford. It was formerly a junction for Southampton via the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway but that closed in the 1960s. The traffic to Southampton meant that the town had strategic importance to military logistics, in particular during the First World War campaign on the Western Front and the Second World War preparations for D-Day.

Power stations

See the main article: Didcot power station

The Didcot Power Stations (which are next to each other, and actually in Sutton Courtenay) supply electricity to the National Grid. The power station has also proved a popular man-made object for local photographers. One power station was closed in 2013 and has been demolished. The other is still operating in 2018.

Further reading

• Lingham, Brian (1979). The Long Years of Obscurity. A History of Didcot, Volume One - to 1841. Didcot: BF Lingham. ISBN 9780950654508.
• Lingham, Brian (1992). Railway Comes to Didcot: A History of the Town (Volume 2) - 1839 to 1918. Didcot: Sutton Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9780750900928.
• Lingham, Brian (2000). A Poor Struggling Little Town: A History of Didcot (Volume 3) - 1918 to 1945. Didcot: Didcot Town Council.

Other websites

• Didcot Twinning Association
• Didcot Railway Centre
• Didcot.com community website
• Didcot First Archived 2018-03-30 at the Wayback Machine
• Didcot Town FC Archived 2010-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
• Future Didcot
• Cornerstone arts centre
• The Didcot Herald Archived 2017-06-26 at the Wayback Machine
• Didcot Choral Society Archived 2017-05-16 at the Wayback Machine