Oxfordshire

OXFORDSHIRE, an inland county, bounded on the south-west, south, and south-east by Berkshire, on the east by Buckinghamshire, on the north-east by Northamptonshire, on the north and north-west by Warwickshire, and on the west by Gloucestershire. It extends from 51° 28' to 52° 9' (N. Lat.), and, in its greatest breadth, which is a little north of the centre of the county, from 1° 2' to 1° 38' (W. Lon.); and comprises an area of 752 square miles, or about 480,000 acres. There are 32,165 houses inhabited, 1442 uninhabited, and 202 in course of erection; and the population amounts to 161,643, of whom 80,436 are males, and 81,207 females.

At the period of the Roman invasion, the county formed part of the territory of the Dobuni, who, desirous of releasing themselves from subjection to their eastern neighbours, the Cattieuchlani, offered no resistance to the Romans, by whom, on their first division of the island, this district was included in Britannia Prima. Its central situation retarded its final subjection to the Saxon dominion, until the latter part of the sixth century. It had been the scene of several sanguinary conflicts between the Saxons and the retiring Britons, and became that of several others between the sovereigns of Wessex and Mercia. In the year 778, the county being ceded by Cynewulf, King of Wessex, to Offa, King of Mercia, the latter made a wide and deep trench, as a boundary between the two kingdoms, which may still be traced at Ardley, Stoney-Middleton, Northbrook, Heyford, and Kirtlington. The county lies in the diocese of Oxford, and province of Canterbury; and forms an archdeaconry, comprising, exclusively of Oxford, the deaneries of Aston, Burcester, Chipping-Norton, Cuddesden, Deddington, Henley, Witney, and Woodstock, and containing 212 parishes. For purposes of civil government, it is divided into the hundreds of Bampton, Banbury, Binfield, Bloxham, Bullington, Chaddington, Dorchester, Ewelme, Langtree, Lewknor, Pirton, Ploughley, Thame, and Wootton. It contains the city and university of Oxford, the borough and market towns of Banbury and Woodstock, and the market-towns of Bampton, Bicester, Burford, Chipping-Norton, Henley-uponThames, Heyford, Thame, Watlington, and Witney. Three knights are returned to parliament for the shire, two representatives for the city, two for the university, and one each for the boroughs of Woodstock and Banbury. The county is in the Oxford circuit; and the assizes and the quarter-sessions are held in the city of Oxford.

The shape of the county is extremely irregular: near the middle, at Oxford, it is not above seven miles across, and though the northern portion spreads out to a breadth of about 38 miles, yet that lying to the south of the city is no where more than twelve miles broad. The surface of the southernmost part has a fine alternation of hill and dale; and the Chiltern elevations, more particularly, which are in some places clothed with fine woods of beech, and are partly arable, and partly in open sheep downs, are beautifully varied. The more central district has little inequality, but is adorned with numerous woods, presenting a rich aspect. In the northern and western districts of that portion of the county north of Oxford, the prospects are for the most part less agreeable, the inclosures being formed by bare stone walls: in Wychwood Forest, however, are many grassy vales and woody glens, which afford charming scenery. The rivers of Oxfordshire are among its chief natural attractions, flowing through nearly every part of it, and luxuriant meadows almost every where bordering on their banks. In the vicinity of Oxford, the vale of the Isis expands into a spacious amphitheatre, bounded by some striking hills, and in the centre of which rise the majestic towers, domes, and spires of that city, from behind the thick shade of venerable groves. To the south of Wallingford, in Berkshire, the scenery upon the banks of the river, now called the Thames, assumes an increased variety of beauty, and forms an extended valley through the range of the Chiltern hills, which, gradually losing the appearance of downs, exhibited by some of the more naked summits in the distance, are marked by much picturesque effect, both of art and nature. Hamlets and villages lie scattered in the neighbourhood of the stream, and magnificent seats occupy the declivities on each side; and having received the waters of the Kennet and the Loddon from the south, it swells into a majestic river, and glides onward through the plain, until it becomes engulfed amidst the fine hills around Henley, the scenery of which is among the most interesting in the county.

With regard to soil, Oxfordshire comprises three different tracts, the limits of which are pretty clearly defined, and which may be distinguished as the red-land district, the stone-brash land, and the Chiltern hills. The red-land, which includes the whole northern part, much exceeds in fertility any other district of equal extent in the county, and contains about 79,635 acres, consisting of a rich sandy loam of a reddish colour, well adapted to the production of every crop, and having a substratum of red gritstone rock. The stone-brash tract adjoins the former, and extends from the verge of Gloucestershire, on the west, nearly to that of Buckinghamshire, on the east, the southern border of it running from the boundary of the county, near Broughton-Poggs, in a north-eastern direction by Brize-Norton, Witney, North Leigh, Bladon, Kirtlington, and Bicester, to Stratton-Audley, and thence northward, at a short distance from the border of Buckinghamshire, to Mixbury. It comprises 164,023 acres. The Chiltern district comprises the south-eastern extremity of Oxfordshire: the basis of this tract, which contains 64,778 acres, is chalk, covered to various depths with a clayey loam, generally sound and dry, and containing a considerable quantity of flints. The remaining portion of the county, extending from this to the stone-brash district, and calculated to comprise 166,400 acres, includes all sorts of soils.

The corn crops commonly cultivated are, wheat, barley, and oats: peas are occasionally raised; beans are sown on the heavier soils, and the common turnip and the Swedish turnip are both extensively grown. Clover and trefoil are cultivated, and sainfoin is to be seen to a great extent upon all the soils that are proper for it. Of the grass-lands, the chief are the narrow flat tracts on the borders of the rivers, containing most of the openfield meadows, which are extensive, and situated so low as to be often overflowed by sudden rains. At Water-Eaton is the best dairy land in the county, but it is very liable to summer floods: at North Weston, in the rich district near Thame, the meadows are mown twice a year. The inclosed pasture or meadow land is almost confined to the central part of the county, near Oxford, where is a considerable tract of deep rich soil. Much butter is forwarded to the London market from some parts of Oxfordshire, particularly from the vicinity of Bicester; and in the county around Thame many calves are fattened, to be sent as veal to the same market. The best feeding land lies on the banks of the rivers Thame, Isis, and Cherwell; but the lower meadows are subject to floods, which sometimes do much damage to the herbage, when they occur late in the spring.

Oxfordshire may be termed a well-wooded county, excepting the northernmost part of it; but it has, comparatively, very little oak. The woodlands may be classed as follows: first, groves on spring-woods; secondly, woods consisting of timber trees and underwood; and thirdly, coppices of underwood only. Of the first class, the extensive natural beechwoods confined to the Chiltern district are the principal. Of the second kind are the woods in the vicinity of Stanton St. John, called "the Quarters," the soil of which is a strong clay: there are also numerous spots of woodland of this description dispersed in various other parts of the county. Coppices are not very numerous, and there are hardly any extensive ones besides those tracts of Wychwood Forest that are thus called, but which, containing timber trees, are more properly woods. There are extensive artificial plantations in several places, particularly at Blenheim. The waste lands, excepting the large tract of Wychwood Forest, are inconsiderable. Wychwood Forest is situated within a few miles of the navigable part of the Thames or Isis, and between the rivers Evenlode and Windrush, which form respectively its boundaries on the north and south. It is an exceedingly fine tract of forest land, comprising with its purlieu woods and wastes nearly 7000 acres, and is interspersed with hills and glens covered with copse wood and timber, abounding with deer and game, and diversified with wild and romantic scenery. There is excellent building-stone within a few feet from the surface, in almost every part of it; also freestone; hard durable plank, and fine greystone, slate; limestone; and a quarry of dark grey marble susceptible of a very high polish and well adapted for mantel-pieces. Beds of gravel and sand of superior quality also abound. Otmoor, near Islip, six miles north of Oxford, contains about 4000 acres, and prior to its inclosure, under an act obtained in 1816, was used as common by the inhabitants of eight adjoining townships. The soil is generally a good loam, but the whole tract is so extremely flat, and situated so low, that in wet seasons much of it lies under water for a long time, the consequence of which is that the cattle and sheep upon it become diseased.

The principal rivers are the Thames (or Isis), the Cherwell, the Thame, the Evenlode, and the Windrush; the four last-named fall into the Thames within the limits of the county. The Thames, which forms the entire southern boundary of the county, separating it from Berks, rises in Gloucestershire, and having been joined by different small streams near Lechlade, first touches Oxfordshire at its south-western extremity, being then imperfectly navigable, and bearing the name of Isis. Having received the waters of the Cherwell at Oxford, it becomes navigable, and pursues a very devious course, for the most part in a south-eastern direction, through an extensive tract of rich low meadows, to a short distance below Dorchester, where it is joined by the Thame, and first popularly called the Thames. The Oxford canal, which is of great advantage to the county, by opening a communication through other canals with Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, and the Staffordshire collieries, enters at its northern extremity, and soon approaching the Cherwell, runs nearly parallel with the course of that river, which it crosses a few miles to the east of Deddington and Woodstock, to the city of Oxford, where it communicates with the navigation of the Thames. The principal Manufactures are, that of blankets, at Witney; and those of gloves, and articles of polished steel, at Woodstock: glove-making was established at that town about the middle of the last century, and now furnishes employment to the lower classes for many miles around. A coarse kind of velvet, called shag, is made at Banbury: the female poor in the southern part of the county are chiefly engaged in lace-making.

Several very curious British coins have been found in the county; and one of the most interesting remains of antiquity which it contains is the circle of high stones, called Rollrich Stones, supposed to be Druidical, in the vicinity of Chipping-Norton. Few considerable remnants of Roman military works exist in Oxfordshire: at Alcester, or Aldchester, in the eastern part, are the traces of a station, the Alauna of the Itinerary; and it is probable that there was another at Dorchester. Roman coins and pavements have been discovered, at different periods, in almost every quarter; and in addition to these, may be noticed several sepulchral mounds formed of rude grassy squares of turf, which, says Dr. Plot, the Roman soldiers were accustomed to raise over the ashes of any eminent warrior, and the most remarkable of which in the county is termed Astal Barrow, in the vicinity of the Akeman-street: numerous urns, and other funeral relics of the same people, have also been dug up. One of the four consular or prætorian ways passed through Oxfordshire, namely the Ikeneld street. It crossed the southern part, from north-east to southwest: entering from Buckinghamshire, at the parish of Chinnor, it proceeds along the base of the Chiltern hills; leaves Lewknor, Shirburn, and Watlington to the northwest; crosses the vallum, or ridged bank, called Gryme's Dyke; and passing Ipsden, may be traced to an inclosure about three miles distant from the village of Goring. Its course out of the county cannot be followed; but it is asserted by Dr. Plot, that it quitted at Goring, and the name of the hamlet on the opposite bank of the Thames, Streatley, seems to corroborate this opinion. Of the vicinal ways, the principal was the Akeman-street, which enters from Buckinghamshire, in the parish of Ambrosden, whence it proceeds to the north of Gravenel or Gravenhill Wood, and Alcester, to Chesterton and Kirtlington, and crossing the river Cherwell, near Tackley, passes through Blenheim Park towards the village of Stonesfield; here it crosses the Evenlode, and then passes near Wilcote and Ramsden, to Asthally and Asthall, and thence to Broadwell Grove, where its form is bold and perfect, and whence it proceeds nearly in a straight line towards Gloucestershire. Several minor roads, traces of which are still visible, diverged from this, or crossed it in different parts of its course. Between Mongewell and Nuffield, towards the southern extremity of the county, is the vallum, or long earthwork, called Gryme's Dyke. It is very high, and only single until it approaches the vicinity of Nuffield, where it is double, with a deep trench between the ramparts: it has been conjectured that the other part of it was once likewise double-banked, but that the trench was filled up by one of the banks being thrown into it in the progress of agricultural improvements. Marks of the sanguinary contests between the Saxons and the Danes are distinguishable in many parts, consisting chiefly of military intrenchments and sepulchral mounds.

At the period of the general dissolution, the number of religious houses, exclusively of the colleges at Oxford, was about 40, including hospitals, &c.; the principal relic is St. Frideswide's Abbey church, now the cathedral of the diocese. In the number and magnificence of its public and private buildings, Oxfordshire at least rivals any other county in England. Blenheim House is well known as one of the most magnificent residences in the kingdom; and many other mansions of the nobility and gentry possess considerable beauty and grandeur, both of exterior appearance and interior decoration: among the chief are, Ditchley Park, Nuneham-Courtney, and Wroxton Priory. The medicinal Springs are very numerous, the greater number being of the various kinds of chalybeate; and within Cornbury Park is one resembling the water at Dorton, in Buckinghamshire. In the extensive bed of gravel on which Oxford stands, and which forms one of the geological features of England, are found many remarkable Fossils, such as fragments of teeth, tusks, and bones of elephants; bones of the hippopotamus, horses' teeth, and horns of a species of stag.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.