Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 3.djvu/149

OXCLIFFE. 137 OXFORD. mund Bedingfiold in 1482, and was visited by Henry VII., of whose time it contains tapestry. It also con- tains portraits, on panel, by Vandyck, Holbein, and other celebrated artists; and several landscapes by Poussin. Sir Henry Bedingfield, Bart., is lord of tho manor and solo landowner. OXCLIFFE, a hmlt. in the par. of Lancaster, hund. of Lomsdale South of the Sands, co. Lancaster, 2 miles W. of Lancaster. It is situated on the river Lune, and is joined with Heaton to form a township. OXCOMBE, a par. in the hund. of Hill, parts of Lindsey, co. Lincoln, 7 miles N. by E. of Horncastle,its post town, and 8 8. of Louth. The parish, which is of small extent, is situated on the Wolds. There are a few cottages and a farm, but no village. Tho living is a rect. in the dioc. of Lincoln, val. 217. Tho church, dedicated to All Saints, has a tower containing one bell. D.ivid Briggs, Esq., is lord of the manor and solo land- owner. OXCROFT, a hmlt. in the par. of Bolsover, co. Derby, 6 miles N.E. of Chesterfield. OXENBOURNE, a tythg. in the par. of East Meon, co. Hunts, 3 miles W. of Petersfield. It is situated near Oxenbourne Down, under Butser Hill. OXENDON, GREAT, a par. in the hund. of Roth- well, co. Northampton, 14 miles N.W. of Northampton, its post town, and 2 S.E. of Market Ilarborough. There is a joint station for Clipstone and Oxendon on tho Stam- ford and Blisworth branch of the London and North- Western railway. The village, which is small and wholly agricultural, is situated on tho main road from London to Manchester. It consists almost wholly of good grazing land. The soil is clayey. The tithes were commuted for land under an Enclosure Act in 1767. The living is a rect.* in tho dioc. of Peterborough, val. ^410. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, is an ancient edifice, with a tower. The living was once held by Morton, the author of the " Natural History of North- amptonshire." Tho interior of tho church contains effigies of Lady Gorges. There is a Sunday-school, also a place of worship for the Independents. OXENDON, LITTLE, a hmlt. in tho par. of Little Bowden, hund. of Rothwell, cp. Northampton, 1 milo from Great Oxendon, and 2 miles S. by W. of Market Harborough. There was formerly a chapel-of-ease, but no traces of it now remain. OXENFOORD CASTLE, a seat of the Earl of Stair, co. Edinburgh, Scotland, 4 miles S.E. of Edinburgh. It is situated on the river South Tyne, and gives tho inferior title of baron to the Earl of Stair. OXENHALL, a par. in the hund. of Botloe, co. Glou- cester, 2 miles N. of Newent, its post town, and 7 S. of Ledbtiry. The village, which is of small extent, is situated on the Gloucester and Hereford canal, at the tunnel, which is 6,576 feet in length. The Ellbrook stream flows through the village, and falls into the Ion at Highlcadon Court. The inhabitants are ily engaged in agriculture. The land is divided httwixt woodland, pasture, arable, and meadow. Tho (oil is chiefly a rich sandy loam. Apples and pears are grown in great perfection. There are several mineral springs, the waters of which resemble those of Chelten- ham. Tho impropriato tithes have been commuted for a -charge of 440. The living is a perpet. cur. in the I. of Gloucester and Bristol, val. 80, in tho patron. ot tho bishop. The church, dedicated to St. Anne, has a d tower containing three bells. Miss Foley is lady ' t tin: manor and principal landowner. In this parish I mound covered with trees called "The Danes' Mound." (-. KXHOATH, a hmlt. in tho par. of West Peck- . hund. of J.iuli 'field, lathe of Aylesford, co. Kent, . K. of Tonbridge. It formerly belonged to the i and Bartholomews. OXENHOLME, a hmlt. in the par. of Kirby Kendal, co. Westmoreland, 1 milo E. of Kendal. It is the junction station of the Windermero and Lancashire and Carlisle railways. OXENHOPE, FAR and NEAR, hmlts. in the chplry. of Haworth and par. of Bradford, West Riding co. York, 3 miles S.W. of Keighley. Tho inhabitants are chiefly employed in the worsted-mills and in agriculture. Tho living is a perpet. cur.* in tho dioc. of Kipon, val. 150, in the patron, of the crown and bishop alternately. Tho church is a modern structure. OXENTON, a par. in tho lower div. of the hund. of Tewkesbury, co. Gloucester, 2J miles S.E. of Aschurch railway station, and 4 S.E. of Tewkesbury, its post town. The village, which is of small extent, is situated on a branch of the river Severn, and is wholly agri- cultural. Tho road between Evesham and Cheltenham passes through tho parish. The impropriate tithes were commuted for land and a money payment under an Enclosure Act in 1774, and the glebe comprises 23_ acres in distant parishes. Tho living is a perpet. cur. in the dioc. of Gloucester and Bristol, val. 08. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is an ancient structure, with a square tower. It has lately been restored at the expense of the Earl of Coventry. Tho Earl of Ellen- borough is lord of the manor. OXENWOOD, a. tythg. in tho par. of Shalbourn, co. Berks, 6 miles S.W. of Ilungerlbrd. OXFORD, a city and parliamentary borough, the seat of an episcopal see and one of the two principal English universities, stands on a gentle eminence near the junc- tion of tho river Isis, which is a branch of the Thames, with the Cherwell. It is the capital, assize, sessions, polling, and election town of the county of Oxfordshire, and returns to parliament four members, of whom two sit for tho city and two for the university. The repre- sentation of tho latter is a much-coveted distinction which is usually conferred upon eminent public men ; hence it is generally styled the " blue ribbon of tho House of Commons. There are two railway stations, belonging respectively to the London and Great Western and the London and North- Western companies. That on tho former is on a branch, line from Didcot, and is G3j miles, while that of the latter is 77f miles distant from London. Tho city, the extent of which is about 2 miles from E. to W. by about 1J milo fromN. to S., is situated in a sort of an amphitheatre surrounded on the W., S., and E. by well-wooded hills and fertile meadows, while to the N. it is flat and less thickly planted. It con- tains the following fifteen para., viz. St. Aldale's (usually pronounced St. Old's), Binsey, St. Ebbo's, All Saints', St. Giles's, Holywell, St. Clement's, St. John's, St. Mary the Virgin, St. Michael's, St. Mary Magdalene's, St. Martin's, St. Peter-le-Bailey, St. Peter in the East, and St. Thomas. Each of these parishes has its own church, those of St. Thomas and St. Ebbe having each a district church; also St. Paul's at "Jericho," as that part of the city is called which lies near the New Clarendon and Worcester College, belongs to the former, and Trinity church, in the Blackfriars'-road, to the latter. There are six Dissenting places of worship, belonging to the Roman Catholics, Methodists, and Baptists, in the city. The name of Oxford has been derived from the fact of its having been situated originally on a branch of the river which was fordablo for oxen, and wo are told that from this circumstance it was called by the ancient Britons Bhyd-ychctt ; and by Geoffrey of Mon- mouth, who flourished in the 12th century, and other early writers, it is hence termed ihevadinn Imuin. Other authorities derive its name from the fact of a ford having existed at Oseney, a site lying about a quarter of a milo to the W. of the city, where there was an abbey founded by Robert D'Oyley in 1129, on an island formed by branches of tho lais. These latter writers assert that it is absurd to imagine that a ford for oxen only would havo given a name to the city, but that a general ford might have done so ; hence that the ford at Oseney, or Osney ford became gradually corrupted into Oxford. Whatever may have been tho derivation of the word, it is certain that it existed in nearly its present form at o very early period, as the word Onnaforda appears on coins of King Alfred, and on those of William tho Conqueror and William II., Oxsneford and Oxenoford, In the Saxon chronicle Oxnaforcl is used, and in Domes-