|
|
| |
ON-LINE GUIDE TO OXFORDSHIRE
|
|
This brief guide provides
summary information on towns, villages and places to visit
in Oxfordshire as well as some interesting facts and
anecdotes on the local area. To find a specific place either
scroll down the page or use the find facility on your
browser. Much more information can be found in our
TRAVEL GUIDES -
Click here
for details.
Our
DATABASE OF PLACES
covers over 5,000 entries in Great Britain and Ireland.
If you are looking for
Places to Stay, Places to
Eat and Drink, Specialist
Retail Outlets, Places of Interest or
Garden Centres and Nurseries
in Oxfordshire please click the relevant link above:
|
| |
|
  
|
A county of ancient towns and villages, whose capital, Oxford, `that sweet city of
dreaming spires', has dominated the surrounding area
for centuries. The first scholars arrived at this walled Saxon town in the 12th century and,
since then, this great seat of learning has
influenced thinking and scientific research around
the world. The southeastern part of the county is dominated by the River Thames and among
the charming riverside towns and villages is
Henley-on-Thames, the country's home of rowing and known worldwide for its annual Regatta. To
the west lie the Vale of the White Horse and an
area of downland which is littered with ancient monuments. Here, too, is Wantage,
the birthplace of Alfred the Great. However, Oxfordshire's most famous feature
is undoubtedly Blenheim Palace, the magnificent 18th century mansion that was the gift of
a grateful queen to her loyal subject the Duke of Marlborough. A World Heritage Site, the
palace is grand and opulent - it was also the
birthplace
of Sir Winston Churchill, whose modest room can be seen.
Abingdon
One of England's oldest towns, Abingdon grew up around a
7th century Benedictine Abbey. Twice sacked by the Danes, it was all
but derelict by the 10th century, but under the guidance of
Abbot Ethwold it again prospered and in its heyday was larger
than Westminster Abbey. Little remains today except the late 15th
century Gatehouse.
Around Abingdon
Thame
14½ miles NE of Abingdon on the A418
Founded in AD 635 as an administrative centre for the
Bishop of Dorchester, Thame became a market town in the 13th
century and its main street is lined with old inns and houses. The
imposing Church of St Mary and the Prebendal House both date
from the 13th century, while the town's
famous school was founded in 1558.
Dorchester
5½ miles SE of Abingdon off the A4074
All that remains of the Augustinian Abbey, which was built on the
site of the original Saxon church, is the Abbey Church of St Peter and
St Paul, whose chief glory is the huge Jesse window showing the
family tree of Jesus.
Wallingford
8 miles SE of Abingdon on the A4130
It was here that William the Conqueror crossed the river on
his six-day march to London, and during the Civil War the town was
a Royalist stronghold defending the southern approaches to Oxford,
the site of the Royalist headquarters. Wallingford was besieged in
1646 by the Parliamentary forces under Sir Thomas Fairfax and its
walls were breached after a 12-week siege; it was the last place
to surrender to Parliament. The Castle, built by William
the Conqueror, was destroyed by Cromwell in 1652
but substantial earthworks can still be seen and
the museum tells the story of the town from earliest
days.
Stonor
16 miles SE of Abingdon on the B480
The village is the home of Lord and Lady Camoys and their
house, Stonor, which has been in the family for over 800 years. Set in
a wooded valley and surrounded by a deer park, the house contains
many rare items and a medieval Catholic Chapel.
Henley-on-Thames
19 miles SE of Abingdon on the A4155
In 1829, the first University boat race between Oxford
and Cambridge took place here and, within a decade, the event
was enjoying royal patronage. Today, Henley
Regatta is a stylish as well as a sporting occasion that
remains a popular annual event.
Beside the town's famous 18th century bridge is the Leander
Club, the headquarters of the world famous rowing club and here,
too, is the River and Rowing Museum, which traces the
rowing heritage of Henley.
Mapledurham
17 miles SE of Abingdon off the A4074
Hidden down a little lane that leads to the River Thames, this
tiny village is home to the Elizabethan Mapledurham
House, which has several notable literary
connections. Alexander Pope was a frequent visitor in the 18th century; the
final chapters of John Galsworthy's The Forsythe
Saga were set here; and it became the fictional Toad Hall
in The Wind in the Willows.
Goring-on-Thames
12 ½ miles SE of Abingdon on the B4526
Situated on a particularly peaceful stretch of the River Thames,
this ancient town began to develop in the 19th century after Brunel
had laid the tracks for the Great Western Railway through
Goring Gap.
Didcot
5 miles S of Abingdon on the A4130
Although this town is overshadowed by the giant
cooling towers of Didcot power station, it has a saving grace in the form
of the Didcot Railway Centre, which is a shrine to the days of the
steam locomotive and the Great Western Railway.
To the north lies the pretty village of Sutton
Courtenay where, in the churchyard of the Norman church, are the graves
of Herbert Asquith, the last Liberal Prime Minister, and Eric Blair,
who is better known as novelist George Orwell.
Wantage
The birthplace of Alfred the Great in AD 849, Wantage remained
a royal manor until the end of the 12th century and in the
central market place is a huge statue of the King of all the West Saxons.
Only the Church of St Peter and St Paul has survived from
medieval times. Opposite the church is the Vale and Downland
Museum Centre which is housed in a 16th century building and
a reconstructed barn.
Around Wantage
Uffington
6 miles W of Wantage off the B4507
This large village was the birthplace, in 1822, of
Thomas Hughes, the author of Tom Brown's Schooldays, and
he incorporated many local landmarks in his well-known work. The
Tom Brown's School Museum tells the story of Hughes's life and
works. The village is best known for the Uffington White Horse,
a mysteriously abstract figure of a horse, some 400 feet long,
which was created by removing the turf on the hillside to expose
the gleaming white chalk beneath. Close by lies the Blowing Stone
(or Sarsen Stone), a piece of glacial debris that is perforated with
holes and, when blown, emits a sound like a foghorn.
Buscot
12 miles NW of Wantage on the A417
This small village is home to two National Trust properties:
Buscot Old Parsonage, a William and Mary house with a small
garden beside the River Thames, and Buscot
Park, a grand late Georgian house that houses
the Faringdon Art Collection, which includes paintings by
Rembrandt, Rubens, Reynolds and Burne-Jones.
Just downriver from the village lies 16th century
Kelmscott Manor House, which was the home of William Morris
between 1871 and 1896. Morris is buried in the local churchyard in a
grave whose ridge-shaped stone was designed by his friend and
partner,
the architect Philip Webb. Further along the river again is the
tiny hamlet of Radcot, which boasts the oldest bridge across
the Thames - Radcot Bridge dates from 1154.
Oxford
A walled town in Saxon times, the first students arrived here in
the 12th century when they were forced out of
Europe's leading academic centre, Paris. The first colleges as we know them
were Merton, Balliol and University. The colleges all have their
own distinctive features, and one of the most beautiful is
Christ Church, which was founded in 1525 as Cardinal College by
Thomas Wolsey. The main gateway leads through the bottom of Tom
Tower (designed by Christopher Wren) and into Tom Quad, the largest
of the city's quadrangles, and the college's chapel is the only one
in the world to be designated a cathedral; Christ
Church Cathedral is also England's smallest.
As well as the college buildings, Oxford has many interesting
places for the visitor to explore. The 18th century
Radcliffe Camera is England's earliest example of
a round reading room and this splendid building still serves
this purpose for the Bodleian Library, which was refounded by
Sir Thomas Bodley, a fellow of Merton College, in 1602. One of
Oxford's most famous buildings is the magnificent
Sheldonian Theatre,
which was designed and built in the Roman style by Christopher
Wren between 1664 and 1668 while he was Professor of Astronomy at
the University. The ceiling has 32 canvas panels, depicting
Truth descending on the Arts, and the theatre is used for such events
as matriculation and degree ceremonies.
The Ashmolean Museum, which first opened in 1683,
was originally established to house the collection of John Tredescant
and his son; this internationally renowned museum is home
to many treasures, including archaeological collections
from Europe, Egypt and the Middle East. The Ashmolean's
original building is now home to the Museum of the History
of Science where among a remarkable collection are Einstein's
blackboard and a large silver microscope made for George III. The
Botanic Gardens are a peaceful place, founded in 1621, a teaching
garden where the plants grown were studied for their medicinal
and scientific uses. The rose garden commemorates the work
of Oxford's scientists in the discovery and use of penicillin.
The University is also responsible for the lovely
Harcourt Arboretum at Nuneham Courtenay, 4 miles
south of Oxford.
To the southeast of the city lies the 16th century
Garsington Manor that was the home of the socialite Lady Ottoline
Morrell between 1915 and 1927. With her husband Philip she played host to
a
whole generation of writers, artists and intellectuals
including Katherine Mansfield, Siegfried Sassoon, TS Eliot, Rupert
Brooke and Bertrand Russell. Aldous Huxley based an account of
a country house party in his novel Crome
Yellow on his experiences at Garsington and, in so doing,
caused a rift between himself and his hostess. DH Lawrence also fell
out with Lady Morrell when he drew a less than flattering portrait of life
at her house in Women in Love.
Around Oxford
Bicester
11½ miles NE of Oxford on the A41
Established in Saxon times, Bicester (pronounced Bister) later
acquired both an Augustinian priory and a Benedictine nunnery, but much
of the old part of the town was lost during a disastrous fire in the
early 18th century. The founding here of the Army's ordnance depot in
1941 brought much new development, which continued up until the
1960s in what had hitherto been a chiefly agricultural community.
Eynsham
6½ miles W of Oxford on the A40
To the south of this ancient market town lies
Stanton Harcourt Manor, which dates back to
the 14th century and is noted for its well-preserved medieval kitchen.
It was while staying here that Alexander Pope translated
Homer's Iliad, working in a 15th century tower that is now called
Pope's
Tower.
Woodstock
8 miles NW of Oxford off the A44
Woodstock is known the world over and attracts visitors by
the million to the magnificent Blenheim
Palace, one of the very few sites in the country on
the World Heritage List. The estate was a gift from Queen Anne to
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, for his victory at
the Battle of Blenheim during the Spanish War of Succession, but
the Queen's gratitude ran out before the building work was finished
and the Duke had to meet the remainder of the costs himself.
Designed by Sir John Vanbrugh and built between 1705 and
1722, the house is also famously
associated with Sir Winston Churchill, who was born here
in 1874, and among the grand collections, there are
intimate mementoes from the great statesman's life. The
surrounding parkland was landscaped by Capability Brown.
Lower Heyford
12 miles NW of Oxford on the B4030
To the south of the village, which stands on the banks of the
River Cherwell, is Rousham, a fine 17th century house built for the
Dormer family, with magnificent gardens laid out by William Kent in
1738; they represent the first phase of English landscape gardening
and remain the only complete William Kent garden to have survived.
Chipping Norton
At 650 feet above sea level, this is Oxfordshire's highest town and
was once an important centre of the wool trade. This
medieval prosperity can be seen in the grandeur of the spacious
Church of St Mary, which, like many other buildings in the town,
endured substantial remodelling in the 19th century. To the west of the
town centre is the extraordinary 19th century Bliss Tweed
Mill, which was designed by George Woodhouse, a Lancashire
architect, in the style of Versailles.
To the north, beyond Over
Norton, are the Rollright Stones - one of the most
fascinating Bronze Age monuments in the country. These great slabs of
stone stand on a ridge which affords fine panoramic views.
Around Chipping Norton
Banbury
12½ miles NE of Chipping Norton
on the A361
This historic market town has managed to preserve many of
its old buildings and to retain its status as a leading livestock market.
The famous Banbury Cross in Horsefair dates only from 1859
as the previous cross was destroyed by
the Parliamentarians during the Civil War. It was erected
to commemorate the marriage of Queen Victoria's oldest daughter
to the Crown Prince of Prussia, and the figures around the base,
of Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V, were added in 1914.
The town's other legendary claim to fame is its spicy, fruity
cakes, though at one time it was also famous for its cheeses, which
were only about an inch thick.
To the southwest of Banbury, in an old courthouse, is
the Bloxham Village Museum, where the displays concentrate on the
lives of Oxfordshire's rural inhabitants. Close by is the 14th
century moated mansion, Broughton Castle, which was remodelled
into a fine Tudor home in the 16th century. The castle
figured prominently in the Civil War, when its secret room was used by
leaders of the Parliamentary forces to lay their plans.
Charlbury
5½ miles SE of Chipping Norton
on the B4022
Charlbury was once famous for its glove-making as well as being
a centre of the Quaker Movement - the simple Friends Meeting
House here dates from 1779 and there is also a Friends cemetery. Close
to the Meeting House is Charlbury Museum, where the town's
charters can be seen. Close by are two interesting great houses. On
the opposite bank of the River Evenlode from the main town
lies Cornbury Park, a large estate that
Elizabeth I gave to Robert Dudley. Although most of the house
now dates from the 17th century, this was originally a hunting lodge
in Wychwood Forest and it had been used since the days of Henry I.
Just to the west is Ditchley Park, a restrained, classical, early
18th century house with superb interiors; it was used as a
weekend headquarters by Sir Winston Churchill during World War
II when Chequers was thought to be unsafe.
Witney
10½ miles S of Chipping Norton
on the A4095
Situated at the bottom of the valley of the River Windrush,
Witney developed as a planned town in the early Middle Ages. Wool was
the economic base of life here and Witney developed weaving and,
in particular, the making of blankets. The Blanket
Hall, which sports the arms of the Witney
Company of Weavers, was built for the weighing and measuring of
blankets in an age before rigid standardisation.
Just outside the town is the Cogges Manor Farm
Museum, which tells the stories of the lives of those who have worked
the surrounding land for centuries.
Just to the west of Witney lies Minster
Lovell, one of the prettiest villages along the
River Windrush and home to the once impressive 15th century
manor house, Minster Lovell Hall. Built between 1431 and 1442, this
was one of the aristocratic houses of
Oxfordshire and home of the influential Lovell family.
Although the hall was dismantled in the 18th century and the ruins turned
into lowly farm buildings, the remains in this serene setting are
extremely picturesque.
Shipton-under-Wychwood
6 miles SW of Chipping Norton
off the A361
The suffix `under-Wychwood' is derived from the ancient
royal hunting forest, Wychwood Forest, the remains of which lie to the
east of this village. Though cleared during the Middle Ages, it was
still used as a royal hunting ground until well into the 17th century;
150 years later there was little good wood left and the forest was
rapidly cleared to provide arable land. The forest was one of the
alleged haunts of Matthew Arnold's Scholar Gypsy.
Burford
11 miles SW of Chipping Norton
on the A361
The site of a battle between the armies of Wessex and Mercia
in AD 752, the town and surrounding area were given
after the Norman Conquest to Bishop Odo of Bayeux, William
the Conqueror's brother. An important
centre of the wool trade for centuries, Burford saw
something of a revival with the stage coaching era and many of the old inns
still survive.
With an atmosphere of a small cathedral, the
Church of St John was built on the wealth of the
wool trade and has several interesting features, including possibly the
first representation of a native American Indian in this country.
The town's 16th century courthouse, with its open
ground floor, is now home to the Tolsey
Museum.
|
|
Travel Publishing Ltd, 7a Apollo House, Calleva Park,
Aldermaston, Berkshire, UK RG7 8TN
e-mail:
info@travelpublishing.co.uk
Copyright © 2008 Travel Publishing Ltd |
|
