Bridge, Woodstock and Shipton; it forms a broad plateau between
Middleton Stoney and Bicester. Inliers also lie in the Oxford Clay
plain at Islip, Charlton, Merton and Black Horse Hill. Wychwood
Forest has given its name to the “Forest Marble,” an inconstant
series of limestones which thin out eastward and become argillaceous.
The Great Oolite limestones, with the “Stonesfield” Slate at the
base and occasional marls, form the higher ground in the northwest.
An excellent freestone is quarried at Tainton and Milton.
The Inferior Oolite series of sands and limestones forms the Rollright
Ridge and caps Shenlow and Epwell hills; it also reaches down to
Chipping Norton and eastward to Steeple Aston. The three divisions
of the Lias are represented in the N.W. of the county. The most
important is the middle member with marlstone, which, being a hard
calcareous bed at the top, forms an elevated ridge along the limit
of the outcrop. The marlstone is quarried for building stone at
Hornton, and for road metal in many places, and, as it contains a
considerable amount of iron oxide, it has been extensively worked
for iron at Adderbury, Fawler and elsewhere. The Upper Lias clays
occur mostly as unimportant outliers. The Lower Lias clays have
been exposed by the Evenlode near Charlbury and by the Cherwell
in the upper part of its valley. A hard shelly limestone called
Banbury marble occurs in this part of the Lias. Glacial drift is
sparingly scattered over the south-western part of the county, but
is more plentiful in the north-eastern portion. Valley gravels are
associated with the main stream courses and gravel, clay-with-flints
and brick earth rest upon much of the chalk slope. Coal
Measures have been proved at a depth of about 1200 ft. near Burford.
Climate and Agriculture.—The climate is healthy and generally dry except in the low ground bordering the Thames, as at Oxford; but colder than the other southern districts of England, especially in the bleak and exposed regions of the Chilterns. Crops are later in the uplands than in more northerly situations at a lower elevation. In the northern districts there is a strong yet friable loam, well adapted for all kinds of crops. The centre of the county is occupied for the most part by a good friable but not so rich soil, formed of decomposed sandstone, chalk and limestone. A large district in the south-east is occupied by the chalk of the Chiltern Hills, partly wooded, partly arable, and partly used as sheep-walks. The remainder of the county is occupied by a variety of miscellaneous soils ranging from coarse sand to heavy tenacious clay, and occasionally very fertile. Nearly seven-eighths of the area of the county, a high proportion, is under cultivation. The acreage under grain crops is nearly equally divided between barley, oats and wheat. There is a considerable acreage under beans. More than half the total acreage under green crops is occupied by turnips, and vetches and tares are also largely grown. Along the smaller streams there are very rich meadows for grazing, but those on the Thames and Cherwell are subject to floods. 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. Of sheep, Southdowns are kept on the lower grounds, and Leicesters and Cotteswolds on the hills. Pigs are extensively reared, the county being famous for its brawn.
Manufactures.—Blankets are manufactured at Witney, and tweed, girths and horsecloths at Chipping Norton. There are paper mills at Shiplake, Sandford-on-Thames, Wolvercot and Eynsham, using water power, as do the blanket works and many mills on the tributary streams of the Thames. Agricultural implements and portable engines are made at Banbury, and gloves at Woodstock, the last a very ancient industry. Banbury has been long celebrated for the manufacture of a peculiar cake. Some iron ore is raised (from the middle Lias), and the quarries and clays for brick-making are important, as already indicated. A large number of women and girls are employed in several of the towns and villages in the lace manufacture.
Communications.—The northern line of the Great Western railway, leaving the main line at Didcot Junction in Berkshire, runs north through Oxfordshire by the Cherwell valley. Oxford is the junction for the Worcester line, running north-west by the Evenlode valley, with branches from Chipping Norton Junction into Gloucestershire (Cheltenham), and across the north-west of the county to the northern line at King's Sutton. From Oxford also the East Gloucester line serves Witney and the upper Thames. Another Great Western line, from Maidenhead and London, enters the county on the east, has a branch to Watlington, serves the town of Thame, and runs to Oxford. The Great Central railway has a branch from its main line at Woodford in Northamptonshire to Banbury, the north and south expresses using the Great Western route southward. Branches of the London and North Western railway from Bletchley terminate at Oxford and Banbury. As regards water-communications, the Thames is navigable for large launches to Oxford, and for barges over the whole of its Oxfordshire course. None of its tributaries in this county is commercially navigable. The Oxford Canal, opened in 1790, follows the Cherwell north from Oxford and ultimately connects with the Grand Junction and Warwick canals.
Population and Administration.—The area of the ancient county is 483,626 acres, with a population in 1891 of 185,240 and in 1901 of 181,120. The area of the administrative county is 480,687 acres. The municipal boroughs are Banbury (pop. 12,968), Chipping Norton (3780), Henley-on-Thames (5984), Oxford, a city and the county town (49,336) and Woodstock (1684). The urban districts are Bicester (3023), Caversham (6580), Thame (2911), Wheatley (872), Witney (3574). Bampton (1167) and Burford (1146) in the west, and Watlington (1154) in the south-east, are the other principal country towns. The county is in the Oxford circuit, and assizes are held at Oxford. It has one court of quarter-sessions, and is divided into 11 petty sessional divisions. The borough of Banbury and the city of Oxford have separate courts of quarter-sessions and commissions of the peace, and the borough of Henley-on-Thames has a separate commission of the peace. The total number of civil parishes in 304. Oxfordshire is in the diocese of Oxford, and contains 244 ecclesiastical parishes or districts, wholly or in part. The ancient county is divided (since 1885) into three parliamentary divisions: Banbury or northern, Woodstock or mid, and Henley or southern, each returning one member. It also includes part of the parliamentary borough of Oxford, returning one member, in addition to which the university of Oxford returns two members.
Education.—On account of the famous university of Oxford and other educational institutions there, the county as regards education holds as high a position as any in England. In connexion with the university there is a day training college for schoolmasters, and there is also in Oxford a residential training college for schoolmistresses (diocesan), which takes day students. There is a training college for schoolmasters in the dioceses of Oxford and Gloucester, at Culham. At Cuddesdon, where is the palace of the bishops of Oxford, there is a theological college, opened in 1854. At Bloxham is the large grammar school of All Saints, and there are several boys' schools in Oxford.
History.—The origin of the county of Oxford is somewhat uncertain; like other divisions of the Mercian kingdom, the older boundaries were entirely wiped out, and the district was renamed after the principal town. The boundaries, except for the southern one, which is formed by the Thames, are artificial. There are fourteen hundreds in Oxfordshire, among them being five of the Chiltern hundreds. The jurisdiction over these five belonged to the manor of Benson, and in 1199 to Robert de Harecourt, a name which is still to be found in the county in the Harcourts of Stanton-Harcourt and Nuneham. The county includes small portions of Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, which lie in the hundreds of Bampton and Ploughley respectively. There has been little change in the county boundary; but acts of William IV. and Victoria slightly increased its area.
The district was overrun in the 6th century by the victorious West Saxons, who took Benson and Eynsham, as may be seen in the Saxon Chronicle for 571. In the 7th century the Mercians held all the northern border of the Thames, and during the 8th century this district twice changed hands, falling to Wessex after the battle of Burford, and to Mercia after a battle at Benson. As part of the Mercian kingdom it was included in the diocese of Lincoln. A bishopric had been established at Dorchester as early as 634, when Birinus, the apostle of Wessex, was given an episcopal seat there, but when a bishop was established at Winchester this bishopric seems to have come to an end. Before the Mercian conquest in 777, Oxfordshire was in the diocese of Sherborne. In 873 the jurisdiction of Dorchester reached to the Humber, and when the Danes were converted it extended over Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire forming about an eighth of the diocese. At the Conquest there was no alteration, but in 1092 the seat was transferred to Lincoln. In 1542 a bishopric of Osney and Thame was established, taking its title from Oxford, the last abbot of Osney being appointed to it. In 1546 the existing bishopric of Oxford was established. The ecclesiastical boundaries remain as they were when archdeacons were first appointed—the county and archdeaconry being conterminous—and the county being almost entirely in the diocese of Oxford. The Danes overran the county during the 11th century; Thurkell's army burnt Oxford in 1010, and the combined armies of Sweyn and Olaf crossed Watling Street and ravaged the district, Oxford and
