Wantage

Wantage (/ˈwɒntɪdʒ/) is a historic market town and civil parish at the foot of the Berkshire Downs in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. Historically in Berkshire, it has been administered as part of Oxfordshire since 1974. The town is on Letcombe Brook, 8 miles (13 km) south-west of Abingdon, 14 miles (23 km) north-west of Newbury, and 15 miles (24 km) south-west of Oxford. It was the birthplace of King Alfred the Great in 849. Wantage was a small Roman settlement but the origin of the toponym is somewhat uncertain. It was seemingly named after a stream that was there originally, with possible etymology being 'to wane, decrease' or an intermittent stream. King Alfred the Great was born at the royal palace there in the 9th century, in what was originally known as Wanating. Wantage appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. Its value was £61 and it was in the king's ownership until Richard I passed it to the Earl of Albemarle in 1190. Weekly trading rights were first granted to the town by Henry III in 1246.