OXFORDSHIRE, a county (inland), 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 seven hundred and fifty-two square
miles, or about four hundred and eighty-one thousand
two hundred and eighty acres. The population, in 1821,
was 136,971. At the period of the Roman invasion, this
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, who, on their first division of
the island, included it 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 Mereia.
In the year 778, this 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,
Middleton-Stoney, Northbrook, Heyford, and Kirtlington.
In 917, the Anglo-Saxons were defeated with great
slaughter by the Danes, at Hook-Norton, who burned
the town of Oxford three several times, in the years
979, 1003, and 1009, and plundered that of Thame, in
1010. In the early progress of the Norman Conquest,
Oxford was stormed and burned by the Conqueror. In
1142, the Empress Matilda was besieged in the castle of
that place by King Stephen, for three months, until the
river being frozen, and the ground covered with snow,
she, accompanied by three knights, all dressed in white,
passed the sentinels unobserved, crossed the river, and
proceeded on foot to Abingdon, whence she took horse,
and arrived safely at Wallingford. In 1264, Oxford was
taken from the barons by Henry III. In 1387, at Radford
bridge, between this county and Berkshire, Thomas
de Vere, Marquis of Dublin and Earl of Oxford, was
defeated by Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester,
and Henry, Earl of Derby, afterwards Henry IV., when
the marquis with difficulty saved his life by swimming
across the Isis. In 1469, at Danesmoor, near Banbury,
on July 26th, the Yorkists, under the Earl of Pembroke,
were defeated by Sir John Conyers, when six thousand
five hundred men were slain, and the earl made prisoner.
One of the earliest transactions relating to the great
civil war occurred on Chalgrove Field, in this county,
on the 15th of August, 1642, when the celebrated
John Hampden appeared in arms, to enforce the ordinance
of the militia. Such of the other events connected
with that memorable contest as relate espe-
cially to this county may be thus briefly recounted. On
the 14th of September, 1642, Sir John Byron, having
taken possession of Oxford for the king, was driven
from it by Lord Say and Sele. On the 27th of October,
four days after the battle of Edge-Hill, Banbury
castle, in which was a garrison of eight hundred foot
and a troop of horse, and Broughton castle, surrendered
to the king, who the next day entered Oxford,
whence he inarched to Brentford, and after the battle
there, returned with his prisoners to Oxford, on the
28th of November. At Oxford, in April 1643, the twelve
commissioners from the parliament waited on the king
with proposals of peace, which negociation was broken
off on the 15th of the same month; and on the
25th, at Caversham bridge, between this county and
Berkshire, Ruthven, Earl of Forth, with the van of
the king's army, was repulsed by Lord Robarts, in an
attempt to relieve Reading, which surrendered on
the following day to the Earl of Essex. In the night
of, June 17th, detachments from the army under the
Earl of Essex were attacked atWycombe andPostcombe,
by Prince Rupert, who, on his return, with many prisoners
and much booty, was overtaken the following
morning on Chalgrove Field, but after a smart skirmish,
the parliamentarians were repulsed, Colonel John
Hampden was mortally wounded, and the prince returned
in triumph to Oxford. On the 1st of August
the king left Oxford for Bristol, but returned on the
-.16th; on the 18th he proceeded to the unsuccessful
siege of Gloucester 5 and on September 23rd, three days
after the battle of Newbury, he again returned to Oxford.
That city having been now for some time the
head-quarters of the royalists, to supply its garrison
with provisions became a heavy burden upon the
county: on the 15th of April, 1644, a royal proclamation
was issued to the inhabitants of the counties of
Oxford and Berks, requiring them to bring in supplies
for the garrison, on pain of being visited with fire and
sword: this produced a declaration from both houses
of parliament, dated the 22nd of the same month, expressing
their horror at the proclamation, and their determination
to hazard their lives and fortunes to prevent
its being carried into effect. Vigorous operations
were accordingly commenced, with a view to the reduction
of Oxford, and that city being nearly surrounded
by two numerous detachments of the parliamentarian
army, under the Earl of Essex and Sir William Waller,
the king, in the night of June 3rd, effected his escape,
and proceeded to Worcester, upon which the enemy
relinquished their intention of besieging Oxford. At
Cropredy bridge, on the 30th of June, an indecisive action
took place beween the king and Sir William Waller.
The garrison of Banbury, commanded by Sir William
Compton, was besieged by the parliament's troops, under
Colonel Fiennes, who, on October 25th, was compelled,
by the Earl of Northampton, to raise the siege. November
27th, the king returned to Oxford. On the 24th
of April, 1645, near Islip bridge, four regiments of the
royal horse were routed by Cromwell, who on the same
day took Blechingdon house without resistance, for
which surrender its governor, Colonel Windebank, was
shot at Oxford on the 3rd of May. The king left Oxford
on May 7th, and Fairfax laid siege to it on the
22nd; but the siege was raised on the 7th of June, and
the king again returned thither, on the 27th of August.
On the 30th he departed for Hereford, and on November
6th he once more came to Oxford, where he passed
the winter. April 26th, 1646, Woodstock manor-house,
after a vigorous defence, surrendered-to the parliamentarian
forces; and the next day the king left Oxford to
surrender himself to the Scottish army besieging Newark.
May 8th, the garrison in Banbury castle, after an
heroic defence for ten weeks, capitulated on honourable
terms to Colonel Whalley; and on the 24th of June,
Oxford, which had been besieged by Fairfax since May
2nd, surrendered at the king's command. At the time
of the rebellion of 1715, several partizans of the Stuart
family were seized at Oxford.
This county lies in the diocese of Oxford, and in the
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
two hundred and twelve parishes, of which ninety-nine
are rectories, seventy-two vicarages, and the remainder
perpetual curacies. For purposes of civil government
it is divided into the fourteen hundreds of Bampton,
Banbury, Binfield, Bloxham, Bullington, Chadlington,
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 upon Thames, Thame, Watlington, and Witney.
Two knights are returned to parliament for the shire;
two representatives for the city, and two for the university,
of Oxford; two for the borough of Woodstock;
and one for that of Banbury; the county members are
elected at Oxford. This county is in the Oxford
circuit: the assizes are held at Oxford, where is the
county gaol; and the quarter sessions at the same city,
on January llth, April 19th, July 12th, and October
18th: there are fifty-nine acting magistrates. The
rates raised in the county for the year ending March
25th, 1827, amounted to & 139,005; the expenditure
to £135,886, of which, £119,738. 19. was applied to
the relief of the poor.
The shape of the county is extremely irregular:
near the middle of it, at Oxford, it is not more than
seven miles across, and though the northern part
spreads out to the breadth of about thirty-eight miles,
yet that lying to the south of Oxford is not in any
part more than twelve miles broad.: the latter is computed
to contain one hundred and forty-one thousand
acres , the former, three hundred and nine thousand.
The southernmost part has a fine alternation of hill and
dale, which produces much pleasing scenery; and the
Chiltern elevations, more particularly, which are partly
clothed with fine woods of beech, partly arable, and
partly in open sheep downs, are beautifully varied.
The more central district has little inequality of surface,
but is adorned with numerous woods, which present
a rich and pleasing aspect. In the northern and
western districts of that portion of the county lying
north of Oxford, the scenery is for the most'part less
agreeable, in consequence of the enclosures being formed
by bare stone walls; inWhichwood Forest, however, are
many grassy vales and woody glens, which afford much
charming scenery. But the rivers of Oxfordshire are
among its chief natural beauties, flowing through almost
evry part of it, and being always accompanied by luxuriant
meadows, and varying prospects. In the vicinity
of Oxford, the vale of the Isis expands into a spacious
amphitheatre, bounded by some striking hills, in the
centre of which rise the majestic towers, domes, and
spires of that city, from behind the thick shade of venerable
groves. Shillingford bridge occupies a romantic
situation on the same river, soon after it has been joined
by the Thame; and after having passed Wallingford, in
Berkshire, the scenery upon its banks assumes an immense
variety of fresh beauties, and forms an indented
valley through the range of the Chiltern hills, which,
gradually losing the appearance of downs, exhibited by
some of their more naked summits in the distance,
become adorned by numerous varied beauties of art and
nature: thick woods clothe their sides and summits,
while the slopes, in the more immediate vicinity of the
river, consist of rich meadows. Towns and villages
lie scattered along its banks, and magnificent seats
adorn the declivities on each side. Having been joined
by the Kennet and the Loddon, which it receives from
the south, the Thames swells into a majestic river, navigated
by numerous small craft, and glides onward
through the plain, until it becomes engulphed amidst the
fine hills around Henley, the scenery of which is among
the most interesting on its banks. The climate of Oxfordshire,
its situation and latitude considered, is cold,
particularly in the western part of the northern division
of the county, where the fences consist chiefly
of stone walls, affording but little shelter. In the Chil-
tern district, at the southern extremity of the county,
it is moist: it is also cold upon the Chiltern hills,
and in their vicinity, more especially upon the poor
white lands at the foot of them, where it is observed
that the frosts always take effect sooner, and are of
longer continuance, than on the other soils.
With regard to soil, this county comprises three
different tracts, the limits of which are pretty clearly
defined, and which may be distinguished as the red-land
district, the stonebrash land, and the Chiltern hills.
The red-land occupies the whole northern part, and
in ay he separated from the rest of it by an irregular
line drawn from Little Rollright, on the borders of
Warwickshire, by Westcott-Barton and Somerton, to
the vicinity of Mixbury, near the confines of Northamptonshire
and Buckinghamshire; this district, which
much exceeds in fertility any other of equal extent in
Oxfordshire, and contains about seventy-nine thousand
six hundred and thirty-five acres, consists of a rich
sandy loam of a reddish colour, which is deep, sound,
and friable, being well adapted to the production of
every crop.- the substratum is red grit-stone rock. The
stonebrash district adjoins the former, and extends
from the borders of Gloucestershire, on the west, nearly
to those of Buckinghamshire, on the east, the southern
border of it running from the boundary of the county,
near Bronghton-Poggs, in a north-easterly direction by
Brize-Norton, Witney, North Leigh, Bladon, Kirtling-
ton and Bicester, to Stratton-Audley, and thence northward,
at a short distance from the borders of Buckinghamshire,
to Mixbury; in so extensive a tract as this,
which is computed to comprise one hundred and sixtyfour
thousand and twenty-three acres, a great variety is
found, from poor loose sandy slopes, to deep and more
heavy soils, approaching to clay; but that which predominates
is a loose, dry, friable sand, or loam, apparently
formed in a great measure of abraded limestone,
of which it contains many fragments; in the vales various
loams are found. The Chiltern district comprises the
south-eastern extremity of Oxfordshire; its boundary
from the rest of the county extending from Chinnor, in
a south-westerly direction, near Watlington, to the vicinity
of the Thames at Gatehampton; the basis of this
tract, which contains sixty-four thousand seven hundred
and seventy-eight acres, is chalk, in some places "very
white and pure, in others imperfect, which is covered to
various depths with a clayey loam, generally sound and
dry, and containing a considerable quantity of flints,
mostly brown, rough, and honey-combed, frequently to
perforation; many of these flints have also a sparry incrustation,
and the best soils are often the most covered
with them; on the banks of the Thames, and in some
other places where the hills recede, the soil is an excellent
sandy loam, which, as well as the flinty hills,
forms a good turnip soil. The remaining large portion
of the county, extending from this to the stonebrash
district, and calculated to comprise one hundred
and sixty-six thousand four hundred acres, includes
all sorts of soils, from a loose sand to a heavy
clay, and these are so intermixed, and the respective
tracts of each so small, as to render it difficult to give
a distinct account of them. Peat-earth is occasionally
foundj and it is considered as a mark of the general fertility
of the county, that good crops of wheat grow on all
its soils, Quarries of freestone are numerous; limestone
is very plentiful; and slate, fit for roofing common
buildings, is obtained in several parts; the ochre found
at Shotover is esteemed of the very best quality.
On the arable lands, which occupy by far the greater
part of the county, the courses of cropping arevery
irregular, even on soils that are alike. The corn crops
commonly cultivated are wheat, barley, and oats: the
general average produce of wheat is estimated at three
quarters per acre; that of barley, at four quarters; and
that of oats, at five quarters. Peas are occasionally
cultivated; beans are sown on the heavier soils; and
there exists likewise a practice of sowing what is here
called poulse, namely beans and peas mixed, of which
good crops are produced on the lighter lands. The common
turnip and the Swedish turnip are both extensively
cultivated. Tares are commonly grown j lentils to a small
extent; rape, but little; cabbages, carrots, and potatoes
occasionally as agricultural crops. Clover and trefoil are
frequently cultivated; and sainfoin is grown to a great
extent upon all the soils that are proper for it, 01 the
grass lands, the chief part is situated in the! narrow
flat tracts on the borders of the rivers, containing most
of the open field meadows, which are extensive, and
situated so low as to be frequently overflowed by sudden
rains, and sometimes even during the hay-harvest,
insomuch, that the crops are either spoiled or entirely
swept away; this flooding, however, improves the soil,
when the waters do not remain out long enough to man-
ure the grass, which seldom receives any other manure
than the sediment thus deposited. At Water-Eaton is
the best grass land in the county, which is occupied
for dairies; 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 enclosed pasture,
or meadow land, is chiefly confined to the central
part of the county, near Oxford, where there is a
considerable tract of deep rich soil: besides the quantity
of butter made here, which is considerable, numerous
calves are suckled, to supply the London market with
veal; in various parts of this district some cattle and
sheep are also fattened: many of the pasture grounds,
however, are full of ant-hills, and a great part of the
herbage is consequently coarse. Much butter is sent to
the London market from some other parts of Oxfordshire,
particularly from the vicinity of Bicester; and in
the district around Thame many calves are also fattened,
to be sent as veal to the same market: little cheese
is made; the produce of hay per acre is calculated to
average nearly two tons. The best feeding-land lies
on the banks of the rivers Thame, Isis, and Chevwell,
but the lowest meadows are subject to floods, which
sometimes do much damage to the herbage, when they
occur late in the spring. Lime is extensively used
as a manure, as are also peat and coal ashes; and
great quantities of rags, purchased in London, are
brought for the same purpose. Oxfordshire has no
peculiar breed of cattle, nor does any particular sort
prevail; those most frequently seen are of the shorthorned
Yorkshire, the long-horned Leicestershire, the
Devon, and the Alderney breeds; oxen are frequently
employed in agricultural labours, for which the Herefordshire
breed is preferred. It is well stocked with
sheep, of which the most common are the South Down,
the Berkshire, the New Leicester, a cross between the
Berkshire and the Leicester, a Spanish breed, which is
sometimes found mingled with the South Down, and a
mixed breed between the New Leicester and the Cotswold
sheep. Of hogs, the Berkshire breed is the most
common throughout the county; many boars are fed
for the purpose of making brawn and sausages, which
form considerable articles of trade at Oxford, and some
other places in the county.
Oxfordshire may be considered a well-wooded county,
excepting the northernmost part of it, but there is
comparatively but 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 consisting of underwood
only. Of the first class, the extensive natural beechwoods
confined to the Chiltern district are the principal,
consisting of large trees, among which is a succession
of younger ones that have been produced by the
falling of the beech mast: these woods are never all
felled at once, except for the purpose of bringing the
land under tillage, but are drawn occasionally. 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,
there being hardly any extensive ones, except
those tracts of Whichwood 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 Whichwood Forest,
is inconsiderable. This forest, situated towards the
western confines of the county, and having a soil, in
some places of reddish loam, and in others of the
common stonebrash of the extensive district in which
it is included, contains six thousand seven hundred and
twenty acres, and is subject to a right of commonage
for horses and sheep only. It comprises thirty-four
coppices, eighteen of which belong to the king, twelve
to the Duke of Marlborough, and four to different individuals
$ and contains some thriving young oak timber:
next to oak, ash is the most abundant, and after that
beech, with some elm. The coppices occupy three
thousand and thirty-seven acres, the keepers' lodges
and lawns one hundred and thirty-four, and the open
forest (which produces nothing but brushwood and
pasturage for the numerous deer and the cattle) two
thousand four hundred and twenty-one acres. After
having been cut, the coppices are fenced off for seven
years against the cattle and sheep, but the deer are
never excluded. Comprised within the forest are also
the chase woods, occupying four hundred and eightyeight
acres; and Blandford park, containing six hundred
and forty acres. Otmoor, near Islip, six miles
north of Oxford, contains about four thousand acres,
and, prior to its enclosure, under an act obtained in
1815, was commonable to 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. Formerly the number of
cattle turned upon the moor by each householder
was subject to no limitation; some large flocks of
geese were also kept upon it. What; are called flits
upon this moor are the holes from which peat has
been dug; pills are hills of. quaking bog. The poor
inhabitants of these townships, who had been deprived
of their customary right of common by the enclosure
bill, destroyed the fences repeatedly, and, in September
1830, assembled in a numerous body, and proceeded, in
a riotous manner, to effect the removal of what they
considered to be an encroachment on their ancient
rights, insomuch that the military were called in, and
some of the ringleaders taken into custody, but subsequently
liberated by their companions on their way to
prison, under a small escort. Most of the unenclosed
parishes, which are rather numerous, have larger or
smaller tracts of waste, or down land, which is appropriated
chiefly to the pasturage of sheep; the range of the
Chiltern hills, which crosses the southern end of the
county, has much land of this description, being in
many places too steep to admit of cultivation. In the
more northern parts too are considerable tracts of downs,
which are in many instances overrun with ant-hills
and coarse herbage, and of little value, being chiefly appropriated
to the pasturage of young cattle, and sometimes
of oxen that are employed in the plough. At
Kidlington is a large common, which feeds three hundred
cows, from May 16th until Michaelmas; and at
Campsfield, in the same parish, is an extensive common
pastured by sheep.
The principal manufactures are, that of blankets, at
Witney; and those of gloves and articles of polished
steel, at Woodstock; the glove manufacture was established
about the middle of the last century, and now
furnishes employment to the poor for many miles around
that town. A coarse kind of velvet, called Shag, is made
at Banbury: the female poor in the southern part of
the county are chiefly employed in lace-making.
The principal rivers are the Thames (or Isis),
the Cherwell, the Thame, the Evenlode, and the Windrush.
The first-mentioned river, which forms the entire
southern boundary of the county, separating it from
Berkshire, rises in Gloucestershire, and having been
joined by different small streams near Lechlade, first
touches this county at its south-western extremity,
being then imperfectly navigable, and -bearing the name
of Isis; hence it pursues its course, for a considerable
distance, through an undiversified plain, and in an
easterly direction, until it has received the waters
of the Windrush, when it takes a north-easterly
course, and having been joined by the Evenlode, soon
after suddenly turns southward to Oxford, a little
above which city it divides into small channels,
which traverse the meadows of Witham, and, leaving
Oxford immediately on the left, pass under several
stone bridges, connected by a grand causeway, which
forms the principal approach to that city on the west:
these streams soon re-uniting, the river winds round
the city towards the north-east, and having been crossed
by an ancient stone bridge, and joinedby the Cherwell, becomes
navigable, and pursues a very devious course, for
the most part in a south-easterly direction, through an
extensive tract of rich low meadows, to a short distance
below Dorchester, where it is joined by the Thame: at
this junction the river loses its assumed poetical name
of Isis, and is first popularly called Thames, although
in various old grants and charters, both of the period
of the Saxon sway in England, and since the Norman
Conquest, it is always denominated by the latter title
in the higher parts of its course also. The Thames immediately
passes under- Shillingford bridge, and shortly
after under that of Wallingford, below which the river
continues a protracted southerly course, until it begins
to make an extensive sweep round by the east to the
north, enclosing the southern extremity of the county,
which it wholly quits at a short distance below Henley,
when it takes an easterly direction, and begins to
form the boundary between Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.
Though by no means a rapid river, it is
far from being sluggish in its course, and has been
poetically described as " without o'erflowing full:"
its waters are here clear and silvery, except when
disturbed by floods. The principal fish which it contains,
in that part of its course bordering on Oxfordshire,
are pike, chub, barbel, perch, eels, roach, dace,
and gudgeons; salmon are also sometimes taken. The
Cherwell, rising in Northamptonshire, enters this
county at its northernmost extremity, and almost immediately,
in the vicinity of Banbury, becomes its eastern
boundary, separating it from Northamptonshire for
the distance of seven or eight miles; it then finally enters
Oxfordshire, and, receiving numerous smaller streams,
continues its irregular southerly course through an
extensive tract to the eastern side of Oxford, where it
runs under Magdalene bridge, and soon after joins the
Thames. The Thame, rising on the borders of Buckinghamshire
and Oxfordshire, near Chinnor, takes a northwesterly
course, forming the eastern boundary of the
county, and passing by the town of Thame, until, in the
vicinity of Waterstock, it enters it, and pursues a southwesterly,
and afterwards a southerly, course, passing
under the bridges of Wheatley and Dorchester, to the
Isis, a little below the latter place, the united waters
then taking the name of Thames. The Evenlode,
rising on the north-western borders of the county, and
descending by Whichwood Forest, pursues a very irregular
south-easterly course by Charlbury, and having been
augmented by the smaller stream of the Glyme, which
flows past Woodstock, and forms the magnificent sheet
of water in Blenheim park, joins the Thames a few
miles above Oxford. The Windrush, rising at a short
distance within the borders of Gloucestershire, soon
enters this county, and pursues a nearly eastern course
by Burford to Witney, to the manufactures of which
latter town it is of great service, and -whence it takes
a direction about south-south-east, falling into the
Thames near Northmoor. The smaller streams, all of
which fall into some of the larger rivers before mentioned,
are extremely numerous. The Oxford canal,
which is of immense advantage to the county, by
opening a communication, through other canals, with
Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, and the Wednesbury
collieries, enters at its northern extremity, and
soon approaching the Cherwell, runs nearly parallel with
the course of that river, which it crosses, near Banbury,
and 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 turnpike roads are generally very good, espe--
cially in situations where gravel can be obtained: in
the northern part of the county, the red grit-stone is
used, but is not so good for the purpose. The road
from London to Cheltenham, Gloucester, and Hereford,
enters the county from Maidenhead, in Berkshire, and,
passing through Henley, Nettlebed, Dorchester, Oxford,
Witney, and Burford, leaves it a little beyond that
town. The upper road from London to Oxford, Worcester,
and Aberystwith, enters from High Wycombe
in Buckinghamshire, and passes through Stokenchurch,
Tetsworth, Wheatley, Oxford, Woolvercott,-
Woodstock, Over Kid'dington, Chapel-House, and Little
Rollright, and enters Gloucestershire at the Four Shire
Stone: this is also the road from London to Holyhead,
through Worcester. The road from London to
Holyhead, through Buckingham and Shrewsbury, enters
the county from Tingewick in Buckinghamshire,
passes through Finmere and Mixbury, and, after crossing
a part of Northamptonshire, re-enters it at Nell bridge,
and passes through Adderbury, Banbury, Drayton, and
Wroxton, to Upton in Warwickshire: this is also the
road from London to Holyhead, through. Birmingham,
and from London to Chester, through the same
town. The road from London to Aylesbury, Bicester,
and Oxford, enters from Fleet-Marston in Buckinghamshire,
and passes through Bicester to Oxford.
Several very curious British coins have been fov.no.
in the county; and one of the most interesting remains
of antiquity which it contains is the circle of high stones,
called Rollrich stones, in the vicinity of Chipping-Norton.
Few considerable remnants of Roman military worfcs
exist  in Oxfordshire; at Alcester, or Aldchester, nv
the eastern part of the county, are the traces of a Roman
station, the Alauna of the Itinerary, and it is probable
that there was another at Dorchester. Various
Roman coins and pavements have been discovered, at
different periods, in almost every quarter of the county;
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 is termed Astal
Barrow, in the vicinity of the Akeman-street: numerous
urns and other funereal relics of the same people
have also been dug up, at various periods, in different
parts of the county. Only one of the four consular,
or praetorian ways passed through Oxfordshire:
this was the Iknield-street, which crossed the southern
part of it, from north-east to south-west; and though
its remains are not very conspicuous, in consequence
of the dry soil over which it passes not having required
it ,to be formed into a paved ridge, or with deep trenches,
yet its course may be pretty accurately described;
entering from Buckinghamshire, at the parish
of Chinnor, it proceeds along  the base of the Chiltern
hills; leaves Lewknor, Shirburn, and Watlington to the
north-west; crosses the vallum, or ridged bank, called
Grime's Dyke; and, passing Ipsden, may be traced to
an enclosure about three miles distant from the village
of Goring, whence its course out of the county cannot
be followed 5 but it is asserted by Dr. Plot, that it quitted
it at Goring, and the name of the hamlet on the opposite
bank of the Thames, viz., Streatley, seems to
corroborate this opinion. Of the vicinal ways, the
principal was the Akeman-street, which in different parts
of its course seems to have been constructed either
with or without a raised bank, according to the nature
of the soil over which it passed; it enters from Buckinghamshire,
in the parish of Ambrosden, whence it
proceeds to the north of Gravenel, or Gravenhill, Wood,
and Alchester, to Chesterton and Kirtlington, and, crossing
the river Cherwell, near Tackley, passes through
Blenheim park towards the village of Stonesfield, where
it crosses the Evenlode, and then passes near Wilcote and
Ramsden, to Asthall-Leigh 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 through the county. Between
Mongewell and Nuffield, towards the southern
extremity of the county is a vallum, or long earthwork,
called Grime'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 of the county,
consisting chiefly of military intrenchments, and sepulchral
mounds, or barrows.
At the period of the general dissolution, the number
of religious houses in the county, exclusively of the colleges
at Oxford, was about forty, including hospitals, &c.
The principal relic of the monastic . buildings is St.
Frideswide's abbey church, now the cathedral church
of Oxford. Amongst the parochial churches are some
interesting specimens of Saxon, or early Norman,
especially in that of Iffley, and many fine examples of
English, architecture. In number, beaxity, 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 of
the mansions of the resident nobility and gentry possess
considerable beauty and grandeur, both of exterior appearance
and interior decoration: among the principal
are, Ditchley Park, the property and residence of Lord
Viscount Dillon; Nuneham-Courtney, that of the late
Earl of Harcourt; and Wroxtoh Priory, that of the Earl
of Guildford. The facility with which building materials
are procured causes the habitations of the middle and
lower classes to be commodious, substantial, and
neat in appearance: nearly every cottage has a good
garden. The medicinal springs are very numerous, the
greater number being of the various kinds of chalybeate.
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 j sometimes in a complete state of
preservation.