Wantage

King Alfred the Great, born in Wantage in 849.

 

Lord Wantage, ( 1832-1901) one of the founders of The British Red Cross and donated the Victoria Cross Gallery, to the town.

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Wantage is ’Alfreston’ in Thomas Hardy’s Jude the obscure.

 

John Betjeman lived here from 1972 to 1984. There is a poetry trail in the Betjeman Millennium Park.

 

King Aethelred the unready wrote ‘The Wantage codes of law’ in 995ad.

 

Sack house – Tanning, hemp, sacking, hats and agricultural tools.

 

Thistle – Scots Guards given freedom of the town in 2012.

 

Mole- Wantage calls moles ‘wants’

 

Wyvern Flag- Standard of Wessex flown by King Alfred.

 

Jockey – Lester Piggott on Nijinsky. He was born here in 1935.

 

Flags- Twinned with Seeson in Germany and Mably in France.

 

Chinook- In January 2021 a Chinook got stuck in mud in a field near Wantage.

 

Animals and insects – Swan Cocktail bar, The Blue Boar, The Bear hotel, Penguin Fish and Chips bar, Lenny’s lizard reptile rescue and care, The Lamb Inn, Buzz Café, Jet my dog, and Ledley the black cat.

 

Man with Barrel- Betjeman Brewery, Shoulder of Muton.

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