It is perhaps a little difficult to believe, but this village in Oxfordshire, with known links to Thomas Hardy and Jonathan Swift, was due to be closed down in 1948 and the residents forced to move elsewhere. Letcombe Bassett is a small village, formerly in Berkshire, which throughout history has always been a small rural village. But, in 1948, in the tough financial years after the Second World War, the village was threatened with closure.

Berkshire council deemed it too expensive to provide mains sewerage for the village and decided it would be easier to close it down and relocate the residents. Of course, the villagers of Letcombe Bassett weren’t too happy about this and started a campaign to save their old village – and won!

Here is a fantastic (and short) film from British Pathé in 1948 telling the story of the villagers fighting for their little piece of…