Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire
County
Flag
Motto: Sapere Aude ('Dare to be Wise')[1]
Oxfordshire shown within England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	South East England
Ceremonial county
Area	2,605 km^2 (1,006 sq mi)
– Ranked	22nd of 48
Population (mid-2014 est.)	654,800
– Ranked	35th of 48
Density	251/km^2 (650/sq mi)
Ethnicity	95.1% White 1.7% S. Asian
Non-metropolitan county
County council	Oxfordshire County Council http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk
Executive	Conservative
Admin HQ	Oxford
Area	2,605 km^2 (1,006 sq mi)
– Ranked	19th of 27
Population	654,800
– Ranked	16th of 27
Density	251/km^2 (650/sq mi)
ISO 3166-2	GB-OXF
ONS code	38
NUTS	UKJ14
Unitary   County council area Districts of Oxfordshire
Districts	City of Oxford Cherwell South Oxfordshire Vale of White Horse West Oxfordshire
Members of Parliament	Victoria Prentis (C) David Cameron (C) (Prime Minister) Nicola Blackwood (C) John Howell (C) Andrew Smith (L) Ed Vaizey (C)
Time zone	GMT (UTC)
– Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)

Oxfordshire (/ˈɒksfərdʃər/ or /ˈɒksfərdʃɪər/; abbreviated Oxon) is a county in South East England bordering on Warwickshire (to the north/north-west), Northamptonshire (to the north/north-east), Buckinghamshire (to the east), Berkshire (to the south), Wiltshire (to the south-west) and Gloucestershire (to the west).

The county has major education and tourist industries and is noted for the concentration of performance motorsport companies and facilities. Oxford University Press is the largest firm among a concentration of print and publishing firms; the University of Oxford is also linked to the concentration of local biotechnology companies.

The main centre of population is the city of Oxford. Other significant settlements are Banbury, Bicester, Kidlington and Chipping Norton to the north of Oxford; Carterton and Witney to the west; Thame and Chinnor to the east; and Abingdon, Wantage, Didcot, Wallingford and Henley-on-Thames to the south.

The highest point is White Horse Hill, in the Vale of White Horse, reaching 261 metres (856 ft).^[2]

Oxfordshire's county flower is the Snake's-head Fritillary.^[3]

History

Oxfordshire was recorded as a county in the early years of the 10th century and is situated on land between the River Thames to the south, the Cotswolds to the west, the Chilterns to the east and the Midlands to the north, with spurs running south to Henley-on-Thames and north to Banbury.

Historically the area has always had some importance, since it contains valuable agricultural land in the centre of the county. Largely ignored by the Romans, it was not until the formation of a settlement at Oxford in the eighth century that the area grew in importance. Alfred the Great was born across the Thames in Wantage, Vale of White Horse. The University of Oxford was founded in 1096, though its collegiate structure did not develop until later on. The university in the county town of Oxford (whose name came from Anglo-Saxon Oxenaford = "ford for oxen") grew in importance during the Middle Ages and early modern period. The area was part of the Cotswolds wool trade from the 13th century, generating much wealth, particularly in the western portions of the county in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds. Morris Motors was founded in Oxford in 1912, bringing heavy industry to an otherwise agricultural county. The importance of agriculture as an employer has declined rapidly in the 20th century though; currently under one percent of the county's population are involved due to high mechanisation. Nonetheless, Oxfordshire remains a very agricultural county by land use, with a lower population than neighbouring Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, which are both smaller.

Throughout most of its history the county was divided into fourteen hundreds, namely Bampton, Banbury, Binfield, Bloxham, Bullingdon, Chadlington, Dorchester, Ewelme, Langtree, Lewknor, Pyrton, Ploughley, Thame and Wootton.

The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, the main army unit in the area, was based at Cowley Barracks on Bullingdon Green, Cowley.

The Vale of White Horse district and parts of the South Oxfordshire administrative district south of the River Thames were historically part of Berkshire, but were added to the administrative county of Oxfordshire in 1974. Conversely, the Caversham area of Reading, now administratively in Berkshire, was historically part of Oxfordshire as was the parish of Stokenchurch, now administratively in Buckinghamshire.

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Oxfordshire at current basic prices published by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.^[4]

Year	Regional Gross Value Added[5]	Agriculture[6]	Industry[7]	Services[8]
1995	7,607	120	2,084	5,404
2000	10,594	80	2,661	7,853
2003	12,942	93	2,665	10,184

Politics

Oxfordshire County Council, currently controlled by a Conservative Independent Alliance, is responsible for the most strategic local government functions, including schools, county roads, and social services The county is divided into five local government districts: Oxford, Cherwell, Vale of White Horse (after the Uffington White Horse), West Oxfordshire and South Oxfordshire, which deal with such matters as town and country planning, waste collection, and housing.

Education

Brasenose Lane in Oxford city centre, a street onto which three colleges back.

The University of Oxford's Chemistry Research Laboratory.

Oxfordshire has a completely comprehensive education system with 23 independent schools and 35 state schools. The state schools are from the ages of 11 to either 16 or 18. Only eight schools do not have a sixth form; these are mostly in South Oxfordshire and Cherwell districts.

The county has two universities: the ancient University of Oxford and the modern Oxford Brookes University, both located in Oxford. In addition, Wroxton College, located in Banbury, is affiliated with Fairleigh Dickinson University of New Jersey.

Buildings

The "dreaming spires" of the buildings of the University of Oxford play a large contribution in Oxford being the sixth most visited city in the United Kingdom for international visitors.^[9] Notable University buildings include the Sheldonian Theatre, built 1664–68 to the design of Sir Christopher Wren, and the Radcliffe Camera, built 1737–49 to the design of James Gibbs.

Blenheim Palace close to Woodstock was built by the great architect John Vanbrugh for John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, after he had won the battle of Blenheim. The gardens, which can be visited, were designed by the landscape gardener "Capability Brown", who planted the trees in the battle formation of the victorious troops. In the palace, which can also be visited by the public, Sir Winston Churchill was born in 1874.

Chastleton House, on the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire borders, is a great country mansion that was built on property bought from Robert Catesby, who was one of the men involved in the Gunpowder Plot with Guy Fawkes. Stonor Park, another country mansion, has belonged to the recusant Stonor family for centuries.

Mapledurham House is an Elizabethan stately home in the far south-east of the county, close to Reading.

Settlements in Oxfordshire

Wantage Market Place

• Abingdon (in Berkshire until 1974)
• Banbury
• Bicester
• Burford
• Carterton
• Charlbury
• Chinnor
• Chipping Norton
• Didcot (in Berkshire until 1974)
• Faringdon (in Berkshire until 1974)
• Henley-on-Thames
• Islip
• Kidlington
• Oxford
• Thame
• Wallingford (in Berkshire until 1974)
• Wantage (in Berkshire until 1974)
• Watlington
• Witney
• Woodstock

Settlements by population

Rank	Town	Population	Year	Definition	Notes
1	Oxford	150,200	2011	Oxford non-metropolitan district
2	Banbury	46,853	2011	Civil parish
3	Abingdon	33,130	2011	Civil parish
4	Bicester	32,642	2011	Civil parish
5	Witney	27,522	2011	Civil parish
6	Didcot	25,140	2011	Civil parish	200 dwellings in the southeast of the town lie in neighbouring East Hagbourne parish.
7	Carterton	15,769	2011	Civil parish
8	Kidlington	13,723	2011	Civil parish	Does not include Gosford.
9	Henley-on-Thames	11,619	2011	Civil parish
10	Thame	11,561	2011	Civil parish	Includes hamlet of Moreton
11	Wantage	11,327	2011	Civil parish
12	Wallingford	7,918	2011	Civil parish
13	Grove	7,178	2011	Civil parish
14	Faringdon	7,121	2011	Great Faringdon civil parish
15	Chipping Norton	6,337	2011	Civil parish
16	Chinnor	5,924	2011	Civil parish
17	Benson	4,754	2011	Civil parish
18	Eynsham	4,648	2011	Civil parish
19	Wheatley	4,092	2011	Civil parish
20	Kennington	4,076	2011	Civil parish
21	Woodstock	3,100	2011	Civil parish
22	Charlbury	2,830	2011	Civil parish
23	Watlington	2,727	2011	Civil parish
24	Bampton	2,564	2011	Civil parish
25	Burford	1,410	2011	Civil parish

Places of interest

Key
	Abbey/Priory/Cathedral
	Accessible open space
	Amusement/Theme Park
	Castle
	Country Park
	English Heritage
	Forestry Commission
	Heritage railway
	Historic House
	Museum (free/not free)
	National Trust
	Theatre
	Zoo

• Abingdon County Hall Museum^[10] – housed in a 17th-century County Hall building
• Ashdown House – 17th-century country house in the Lambourn Downs
• Ashmolean Museum – Oxford University's museum of art and archaeology
• Banbury Museum, Banbury
• Bicester Village
• Blenheim Palace and garden – UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Broughton Castle – 14th-century fortified manor house
• Buscot Park, Buscot – 18th-century country house and landscape garden
• Champs Chapel Museum of East Hendred – village museum in a 15th-century Carthusian chapel
• Charlbury Museum
• Chastleton House – 17th-century country house (limited access)
• Chiltern Hills – Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
• Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway – operated with steam and diesel locomotives
• Chipping Norton Museum^[11]
• Cholsey and Wallingford Railway
• Cogges Manor Farm Museum, Witney – a living museum of country life
• Combe Mill Museum,^[12] Long Hanborough – working museum of stationary steam engines
• Cotswold Wildlife Park and garden, Bradwell Grove, Holwell
• Cotswolds – Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
• Didcot Railway Centre – museum of the Great Western Railway
• Dorchester Abbey, Dorchester-on-Thames – 12th-century church of former Augustinian abbey
• Great Coxwell Barn – 14th-century Tithe barn
• Greys Court, Rotherfield Greys – 16th-century country house
• Hampton Gay Manor – ruins of 16th-century manor house (no website)
• Harcourt Arboretum, Nuneham Courtenay
• Heythrop Hall – 17th-century country house: now a hotel, golf & country club
• Hook Norton Brewery – working Victorian "tower" brewery that offers guided tours
• Kelmscott Manor – Home of William Morris
• Mapledurham Estate – 16th-century country house and 15th-century watermill
• Milton Manor House – 18th-century country house^[13]
• Minster Lovell Hall – dovecote and ruins of 15th-century manor house
• Museum of Bygones, Claydon – private museum including stationary steam engines
• North Wessex Downs – Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
• Oxford
• Oxford Bus Museum and Morris Motors Museum, Long Hanborough
• Oxford Canal – 18th-century "narrow" canal
• The Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock
• The Ridgeway
• River and Rowing Museum, Henley-on-Thames
• River Thames
• Rollright Stones – megalithic stone circle and Whispering Knights burial chamber, near Little Rollright
• Rousham House – 17th-century country house and landscape garden
• Rycote chapel – 15th-century chapel with original furnishings
• St Katharine's church, Chiselhampton – 18th-century parish church with original furnishings (no website, limited access)
• St Mary's church, Iffley – 12th-century Norman parish church^[14]
• Shotover Country Park, Headington
• Spiceball Country Park, Banbury
• Stanton Harcourt manor house (limited access), with garden and 15th-century chapel and Pope's Tower (no website)
• Stonor House – country house and 14th-century chapel of the recusant Stonor family
• Swalcliffe Tithe Barn – 15th-century
• Thame Museum^[15]
• Tolsey Museum, Burford (no website)
• Uffington White Horse, Uffington Castle and Wayland's Smithy burial chamber in the White Horse Hills
• Vale and Downland Museum, Wantage
• Wallingford Museum
• Wheatley Windmill – 18th-century tower mill^[16]

See also

• Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire
• High Sheriff of Oxfordshire
• Oxfordshire Artweeks, an annual art feastival each May
• Oxford University (including links to the individual colleges).
• Oxford Canal

References

1. "Camelot International, Britain's heritage and history". Retrieved 9 November 2011.
2. http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/portal/pls/portallive/docs/1/587934.PDF|
3. "Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)". Plantlife. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
4. "unknown" (PDF). pp. 240–253. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 February 2015.
5. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
6. includes hunting and forestry
7. includes energy and construction
8. includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
9. "Economic Statistics". Oxford City Council.
10. Christopher Gale. "Abingdon County Hall Museum".
11. "Chipping Norton Museum".
12. "Home". Combemill.org. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
13. "Oxfordshire". Milton Manor House. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
14. Pevsner, Nikolaus; Sherwood, Jennifer (1974). The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300096392.
15. http://thamehistory.net/
16. Glitz. "Wheatley Windmill Website". Wheatleymill.co.uk. Retrieved 23 August 2014.

Further reading

• Powell, Philip (2005). The Geology of Oxfordshire. Dovecote Press. ISBN 1-904349-19-6.

External links

• Oxfordshire County Council
• Thisisoxfordshire Oxfordshire news, sport & information
• The Oxfordshire Association
• Flags of Oxfordshire
• Visit South Oxfordshire
• Banbury & District National Trust Association
• Images of Oxfordshire at the English Heritage Archive
• Oxfordshire at DMOZ

Coordinates: 51°45′N 1°17′W / 51.75°N 1.28°W