Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/106

OXFORD lulls there are extensive sheep pastures. Horses in 1SS3 numbered 1 7,454, of which 13,716 were used solely for purposes of agriculture. The number of cattle was 50,209, of which 16,914 were cows and heifers in milk or in calf. The dairy system prevails in many places, but the milk is manufactured into butter, little cheese being made. The improved shorthorn is the most common breed, but Alderney and Devonshire cows are largely kept. Sheep numbered as many as 270,288, of which 157,243 were one year old and upwards. Southdowns are kept on the lower grounds, and Leicesters and Cots wolds on the hills. Pigs in 1883 numbered 44,682, the county being famous for its "brawn." According to the latest return, the land was divided among 10,177 proprietors, possessing 452,232 acres, at an annual value of 1,073,246, an average per acre of about 2, 7s. Of the owners, 6833 possessed less than one acre, and the following 10 upwards of 5000 acres, viz., the duke of Marlborough, 21,945 ; earl of Uucie, 8799; earl ofAbingdon, 8174; M. P. W. Boulton, 7946; Sir H. W. Dash wood, 7515 ; earl of Jersey, 7043 ; Edward W. Harcourt, 5721 ; earl of Maoclesrield, 5491 ; Viscount Dillon, 5444 ; and Lord F. G. Churchhill, 5352. Upwards of 30,000 acres were held by various colleges of Oxford, the largest owner being Christ Church, 4837 acres. Manufactures. Blankets are manufactured at "Witney, and tweeds, girths, and horsecloths at Chipping Norton. There are paper mills at Hampton-Gay, Shiplake, Sandford-on-Thames, Vool- vercot,and Eynsham. Agricultural implements and portable engines are made at Banbury, and gloves at Woodstock, where the polished steel work has long ago ceased. A large number of women and girls are employed in several of the towns and villages in the lace manufacture. Railways. The county is traversed by several branches of the Great Western, which skirts its borders, and by the East Gloucester shire and the London and North -Western Railways. Administration and Population. Oxfordshire comprises fourteen hundreds, the municipal boroughs of Banbury (3600) and Chipping Norton (4167), the greater part of the city of Oxford, of which the remainder is in Berkshire, and a small portion of the municipal borough of Abingdon, of which the remainder is also in Berkshire. It has one court of quarter sessions, and is divided into ten petty and special sessional divisions. The boroughs of Abingdon and Banbury and the city of Oxford have commissions of the peace and separate courts of quarter sessions. For parliamentary purposes the county is not divided; it returns three members, having previous to the Reform Act of 1832 returned only two. The borough of Woodstock returns one member ; and there are parts of four other boroughs within the county, Oxford city returning two members, and Abingdon, Banbury, and Wallingford one each. The uni versity of Oxford also returns two members. The county contains 292 civil parishes, with parts of seven others. It is almost entirely in the diocese of Oxford. The population in 1801 was 111,977, which by 1841 had increased to 163,143, by 1851 to 170,439, by 1871 to 177,975, and by 1881 to 179,559. of whom 88,025 were males and 91,534 females. The average number of persons to an acre was 37, and of acres to a person 2 69. History and Antiquities. At the Roman invasion the district was inhabited by the Dobuni. To this early British period probably belong the circle of stones and cromlech near Chipping Norton, the cromlech called the "Hoarstone" at Enstone, and the scattered stones called the Devil s Quoits at Stanton-Harcourt. Icknield Street crossed the centre of the county from Goring in the south west to Chinnor in the north-east, and joined Watling Street in Northamptonshire. Akeman Street crossed the county from east to west, entering it from Bucks at Ambrosden, and passing through Chesterton, Kirtlington, Blenheim Park, Stonesfield, and Asthall to Gloucestershire. Between Mongewell and Nuffield there is a vallum with embankment 2| miles in length called Grimes Dyke or Devil s Ditch ; and there are remains of another with the same name between the Glyme and the Evenlode near Ditchley. Traces still exist of Roman and British camps, and on the east side of the Cotswolds the square and the round camps lie together in pairs. Numerous Roman coins have been found at Dorchester, and tes- selated pavements at Great Tew and Stonesfield. For a long time Oxford was the resilience of the monarchs of Mercia. Cuthred of Wessex in 752 disowned the overlordship of Ethelbald of Mercia, whom he defeated at Burford. From this time a portion of Oxford shire seems to have been subject to Wessex, but OfFu of Mercia inflicted in 779 a severe defeat on the West Saxons under Cyne- wulf, after which Oxfordshire probably became Mercian. The district of Oxford was frequently the scene of conflict during the long contests between the Saxons and the Danes, the latter of whom reduced the city of Oxford four times to ashes, and in the llth century occupied nearly the whole region. In 1387 the insurgent nobles defeated the earl of Oxford at Radcot Bridge near Bampton. In 1469 the farmers and peasa:its of Yorkshire, to the number of 15,000, under the leadership of Robin of Kedesdale, marched to Banbury, and defeated and captured the earl of Pembroke at Danes Moor on the borders of Oxford. During the civil wars the county was frequently entered by the armies both of the Parliament and the king, the more important incidents being the seizing of Oxford, Banbury, and Broughton by the Royalists ; the assembling of the adherents of the king at the city of Oxford in 1644; the capture of the city by Fairfax in 1646; the surprise of the Parliamentarians by Rupert at Caversham; their repulse at Chalgrove Field, where Hampden received his death-wound ; and the defeat of the Royalist forces by Cromwell at Islip Bridge. Some portions still remain of the old Norman castle at Oxford ; there are traces of a moat at Banbury ; of the castle at Bampton, the seat of Aylmcr de Valence in 1313, there are a chamber and other fragments ; and Broughton Castle is a good moated house of various periods. Among old mansions, mention may be made of Shirburn Castle, Mapledurham House, Chastleton House, Rousham Park, Crowsley Park, Hardwick House, Shipton Court, Stonor Park, Stanton-Harcourt Manor House, and Wroxton Abbey. In regard to Burford Priory, the High Lodge at Blenheim Park, and the old manor houses of Hoi ton and Minster Lovell, the interest is chiefly historical. The most interesting churches, in addition to those in the city of Oxford, are Iffley, Norman, one of the finest specimens of early ecclesiastical architecture in England ; Thame, with tombs and brasses ; Bampton, mostly transitional from Early English and Decorated; Kidlington, Decorated, with a chancel and tower of earlier date ; Ewelme, Perpendicular ; Adderbury, with a chancel built by AVilliam of Wykeham ; Bloxham, with spire said to have been erected by Wolsey ; Burford, Norman and later ; Chipping Norton, with brasses of the 14th century ; Dor chester, once an abbey church; Stanton-Ilarcourt, with Early English chancel ; Witney, Early English and Decorated, with Norman doorway. Among the religious foundations in addition to those in the city were a college and hospital at Banbury ; an abbey of Austin canons at Bicester ; a Cistercian abbey at Bruern ; a hospital at Burford; an Austin cell at Caversham; an alien priory at Charlton-on-Otmoor ; a Gilbertine priory at Clattercote ; an alien priory of Black monks at Coggs ; an Austin priory at Cold Norton ; a hospital at Crowmarsh ; a priory of Austin canons at Dorchester; a hospital at Ewelme; a Benedictine abbey at Ey us- ham ; a priory of Austin nuns at Goring ; a preceptory at Gosford ; a Benedictine house at Milton ; an alien priory at Minster Lovell ; an abbey of Austin canons at Osney; a preceptory at Sandford-on- Thames ; a Cistercian abbey at Thame ; an establishment of the Mathurins at Tuflield ; a hospital at Woodstock ; and a house of Austin canons at Wroxton. There was a bishopric at Dorchester as a West Saxon see from 634 to 705, which was restored towards the close of the 9th century as a Mercian see. The bishopric was transferred to Lincoln in 1067, from which Oxfordshire was separated and erected into a see in 1545. The diocese was enlarged by the addition of Berks in 1836 and of Bucks in 1846. See Plot, Natural History of Oxfordshire, 1(577; Walker, Flora of Oxfordshire, 1S33 ; Skelton, Antiquities of Olfordthire, 1823 ; Domesday Hook Facsimile, 18(52 ; Davenport, Lords Lieutenant and High Sheriffs of Oxford, 18C8; Id., Oxford shire Annals, 1SC9; Phillips, Geology of Oxford and the Thames Valley, 1871. OXFORD, the county town of Oxfordshire, a cathedral city, a municipal and parliamentary borough, and the seat of a famous university, is situated at a distance of 45 miles west-north-west from London, in the centre of the south midland district. It lies for the most part on a low ridge between the rivers Thames (locally called the Isis) and Cherwell, immediately above their junction. The soil is gravel lying over extensive beds of Oxford clay. From some points of view the city seems to be surrounded with hills, a line of which runs from Wytham Hill (539 feet) to Cumnor Hurst (515 feet) and Stonesheath (535 feet) on the west of the Thames valley, while on the east Headington Hill approaches still closer, with Shotover (5GO feet) behind it. The river bed is about 180 feet above sea-level. Both the Thames and Cherwell valleys are liable to floods, especially in winter and spring. University and City Buildings. The view of the city, whether from the Abingdon road and Hinksey Hills, or from the old approach from London by Headington, or from the top of the Kadcliffe, is a sight not to be for gotten. The towers and spires, numerous and yet varied in character, the quadrangles old and new with their profusion of carved stonework, the absence of large factories and tall chimneys, the groves and avenues of trees, the quiet college gardens, the well-watered valleys and encircling hills all these combine to make Oxford the fairest city in England. The first place in importance as well as grandeur is taken by the buildings of the university, which will be briefly described in order.