BICESTER, a market-town and parish in the
hundred of PLOUGHLEY, county of OXFORD, 12 miles
(N.E. by N.) from Oxford, and 55 (N.W. by W.) from.
London, containing 2544 inhabitants. This place, by
the Saxons called Burenceaster and Bernaceaster, both
implying a fortified place, is supposed to derive its name
either from its founder, Birinus, a canonized Saxon
prelate, or from Bernwood, a forest in Buckinghamshire,
on the verge of which it is situated. A priory for canons
of the Benedictine order was founded in 1182, and
dedicated to St. Eadburg, by Gilbert Basset, Baron of
Haddington, and his wife, Oglean Courtney, the revenue
of which, at the dissolution, was £ 167. 2. 10.. In 1355,
a royal license was granted to Nicholas Jurdan, warden
of the chapel of St. John the Baptist, for the establishment
of an hospital for poor and infirm people,
but the design does not appear to have been carried
into execution. During the civil war  in the reign of
Charles I., the inhabitants suffered by repeated exactions
levied on them by both parties, and, in 1643,
a skirmish took place, in which the royalists were
defeated and driven through the town. Bicester, which
is divided into the townships of King's-End, and Market-
End, part of the latter being in the parish of Caversfield,
is situated in a valley, on the banks of a tributary
stream which falls into the river Cherwell at Islip; it is
handsomely built, and amply supplied with water. Two
book clubs have been established, one by the clergy
resident in the town and neighbourhood, the other by
the inhabitants. The manufacture of leather slippers is
extensively carried on, and the female inhabitants are
employed in making bone lace: the town is noted for
excellent malt liquor. . The market is on Friday; and
fairs are held on the Friday in Easter week, the first
Friday in June, August 5th, and the third Friday in
December} there are also statute fairs on the first three
Fridays after Michaelmas. The county magistrates
hold their petty sessions here for the district. The living
is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and
diocese of Oxford, rated in the king's books at £16,
and in the patronage of Sir G. P. Turner, Bart. The
church, dedicated to St. Eadburg, was rebuilt in 1400,
on the site of the former edifice: it is a spacious structure
with a lofty square tower; the interior contains
many interesting monuments and some antique sculptures.
There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists.
A school for the instruction and clothing of
thirty boys is supported partly by subscription, and
partly by the dividends on £1000 stock, given in 1811
by Mr. Walker, in fulfilment of the intention of his
deceased father, out of which, £ 14 per annum is given
in moieties to a Sunday school in connexion with the
established church, and to a similar institution for the
children of dissenters. Lands producing £200 per annum,
and a few minor charitable bequests, are appropriated
to the relief of the poor. In making some
excavations, in 1819, the foundations of the conventual
buildings belonging to the priory, a vast mass of sculptured
fragments, pieces of painted glass, and other relics,
were discovered.