Shotteswell

Shotteswell is a village and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 221. The parish is bounded on three sides by Oxfordshire and is about north-west of Banbury.thumb|Shotteswell village green

==Overview== thumb|upright=1.3|St Laurence's Church, Shotteswell The name of the village has been spelt in various fashions over the centuries in a range of documents:- Sotteswalle around 1135, Shoteswell (1165), Schoteswell (1189), Schotewell (1190), Scoteswell (1221), Sotteswell (1235), Schetteswell (1315), Shotteswell (1428 and 1535), Shatswell (1705) as well as Cheleswell, Seteswell, Scacheswell and Shotswell, the latter in censuses of the mid-nineteenth century. It is said to derive from the Anglo-Saxon "Soto", a family name, and "will", a well – that is – "the well of Scot". In the past, an alternative explanation was put forward that the name derived from "sceota" or "scota" meaning the offshoot or brow of a hill – that is – the well at the brow of a hill. For a large part of its history the local inhabitants have called the village "Satchel" and, indeed, a sign at the door of St. Laurence Church states:- "Local pronunciation of Shotteswell – Satchel".