WOODSTOCK (NEW), a borough and market-town and parish,
having separate
jurisdiction, though locally
within the liberty of Oxford, county of
OXFORD, 8 miles (N.N.W.)
from Oxford, and 62 (W.N.
W.) from London, containing
1455 inhabitants. This
place is of Saxon origin,
and was called by that peo-
Seal and Arms. pk Vudestoc> signifying a
woody place. It appears to have been chosen, at an
early period, as an abode of royalty, and the manorhouse,
as it was called, is supposed to have been built
upon the site of a Roman villa. Alfred the Great resided
here whilst translating Boetius; Ethelred held a
council, or parliament, here, and made several of thestatutes
enumerated by Lambard, in his collection of
Anglo-Saxon laws; it subsequently became a favourite
residence of Henry I., who in a great measure rebuilt
the place, surrounded the park with a wall, and stocked
it with wild animals. In the reign of Henry II., Woodstock
is celebrated as the residence of the fair Rosamond,
whose romantic adventures are so interwoven
with the history of that monarch: Henry here received
Rice, Prince of Wales, when he, in 1163, came
to do homage. Edmund of Woodstock, the second
son of Edward I., was born here in 1330; as were
also Edward the Black Prince, and Thomas of Woodstock,
sons of Edward III. It was for some time the
place of confinement of Queen Elizabeth, during the
reign of her sister Mary: on her accession to the
throne, it was occasionally selected as her residence,
the town was distinguished by her favours. The
manor and honour continued in the crown until the
reign of Queen Anne, when it was granted to the celebrated
Duke of Marlborough, for whom a splendid
mansion was erected, at the expense of the nation,
called Blenheim, after the scene of one of his victories,
as a recompense for his great military and diplomatic
services. The town is very pleasantly situated on an
eminence, at the eastern bank of the Glytne, an expansion
of which forms the lake in Blenheim park,
and afterwards joining the Evenload in the vicinity,
both fall into the Isis: the streets are clean and spacious
and the houses, which are mostly built of stone,
are generally large and handsome. The manufacture
of gloves is the principal branch of trade, and, although
fluctuating, is carried on to a considerable extent,
furnishing employment to about one hundred
men and fifteen hundred women and girls in the
town and neighbourhood, upwards of five hundred
dozen pair being made weekly.. The manufacture of
various articles of fine steel has very much decayed
since the rise of Birmingham and Sheffield: those
made here formerly brought very high prices, from the
beauty of the workmanship and the brightness of the
polish, and are remarkable from having been generally
made of old nails of horse-shoes, formed into bars.
Queen Elizabeth, among other privileges, granted a
wool staple, of which there are now no remains, and a
market to be held on Friday, but the principal market
day is Tuesday. There are fairs on Tuesday after February
2nd, April 5th, Tuesday at Whitsuntide, August
2nd, October 2nd (a great mart for cheese), Tuesday
after November 1st, and December 17th.
Woodstock, which had long been a borough by
prescription, was incorporated in 1453, by Henry VI.,
whose charter was confirmed and enlarged by succeeding
monarchs, the last of whom, Charles II., granted
that under which the corporation now actsj a restrictive
charter was forced on it by James II., but soon
after set aside by proclamation. The members of the
corporation are in number twenty-five, viz., five aldermen,
from among whom a mayor is annually chosen,
a high steward, a recorder, assisted by seventeen common
council-men, and a town clerk; two of the common
council-men act as chamberlains [in rotation. The
freedom is acquired by birth, servitude, or gift of the
corporation, who, as lords of the manor, hold a court
leet annually; and a court for the recovery of debts
under £15 within the borough is held every month,
but only proformd for many years past. The town
hall  is a handsome stone building, erected about the
year 1766, by the Duke of Marlborough, after a design
by Sir William Chambers. This borough has always
been privileged to send two members to parliament,
though the right has only been exercised without interruption
since the 13th of Elizabeth: the electors
are the mayor, aldermen, and freemen; the number of
voters is about one hundred and fifty, of whom nearly
one half are non-resident: the mayor is the returning officer.
Woodstock, though for all civil purposes a parish,
and by far the most populous, is only a chapelry to
the rectory of Bladon; a parsonage-house was erected
here by Bishop Fell, in which the rector may optionally
reside. The chapel, dedicated to St. Msry, was principally
rebuilt, in 1785, on the site of a chantry founded
by King John; in the original part of the, building,
which forms the south side of the chapel, is a roundheaded
doorway of early Norman architecture, composed
of red stone, ornamented with chevron work; it
consists withinside of three massy columns supporting
pointed arches, their capitals having various grotesque
sculptures of the human countenance: the more
modern part of the structure has been erected in a
style no way corresponding with this ancient part,
but it has a tower of good proportions. Particular
Baptists andWesleyan Methodists have each a place
of worship. The free grammar school was founded
and endowed, in 1585, by Richard Cornwall, a native
Of the town; the master is appointed by the corporation,
who pay him £30 per annum; and he receives
fifteen shillings a quarter from each child of a freeman,
for instruction in reading, writing, and accounts, the
classics being taught free. Eight boys and eight girls,
double the original number, are instructed and clothed,
under the benefaction of the Rev. Sir Robert Cocks,
Bart., formerly rector of Bladon with Woodstock, now
producing upwards of £60 per annum; the remainder
of the endowment, which fluctuates with the rent of land,
being given as apprentice fees with the boys when leaving
the school. Almshouses for six poor widows, standing
near the southern entrance of the town, were built
in 1793, by the late Duchess of Marlborough. There
are various bequests for the benefit of the poor, which
are distributed amongst them in money, clothing, &c.
In the Rolls of the reign of Henry III., mention is
made of an almshouse, built near the king's manor,
which Tanner thinks may be the same with the hospital-
of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Mary Magdalene, for
which a protection was granted to beg, by patent of
the 1st of Edward III. Roman coins, especially of Constantine,
are occasionally dug up within. the limits of
the borough; and the Alceman-street-way, an ancient
Roman road, passes through the northern part of Blenheim
park. Chaucer, the father of English poets,
resided, and is said by some to have been born, here.
Woodstock gives the title of viscount to the Duke of
Portland.