INTRODUCTION 1x1 



village of Letcombe Basset, and passes by the ancient town of Wantage, 

 near which its course is marked by a few marsh plants, and its banks 

 here and there yield Scolopendrium. It receives in Hanney field (which is 

 only 200 feet above the sea) the brook from Childrey which has passed 

 through Denchworth, and it then joins the Ock near Marcham. The 

 portion of the Ock district yet to be described is that part of it which 

 is not drained by the Ock or its tributaries, and which is made up of 

 several detached areas. The first of these to be noticed is the country 

 which is drained by the Thames itself in its course from Oxford to 

 Abingdon, and which includes the east side of Cumnor Hurst, the 

 Boar's Hill range, the east side of Bagley Wood, and the Thames 

 meadows from Ferry Hinksey to Abingdon. From the variety of its 

 geological formations this is an extremely rich botanical district. Its 

 altitude ranges from the river level, which is about 190 feet, to 535 feet 

 on Pickett's Heath. The second is a bit of country on the southern side 

 of the district, drained by a small spring which issues from the Chalk 

 above Lord Wantage's house at Lockinge, and having formed the 

 ornamental waters of his park passes by Steventon with its ancient 

 causeway, Milton, and Sutton Courtney, into the Thames near Sutton 

 pool, where the river is about 160 feet above the sea. This stream is 

 known as the Genge or Ginge brook. A third area is drained by the 

 Thames from Appleford to Eush Court. To these ai-e to be added the 

 piece of country drained by the Moreton brook, which comes from 

 the high ground of Blewbury. At East Hagborne it is replenished by 

 a spring called the Shovel spring, which has never been known to 

 fail. This Hagborne stream was mentioned in a charter of King 

 Alfred as ' Hacca broc ' ; near it Oenanfhe crocaia occurs in its most 

 northern situation in the county. The Moreton brook also drains the 

 villages of Brightwell and Satwell, before it passes through Walling- 

 ford into the Thames. 



Lastly, there is the area through which flows the Cholsey stream, 

 which absorbs the water from the north side of King Standing Hill 

 (391 feet above the sea) and Lowbury Hill (585 feet), Aston Tirrel, and 

 what was formerly the marsh of Cholsey (Ceol's Isle, once the residence 

 of Professor Henslow), before it enters the Thames near Mongewell. 



From the foregoing description of the boundaries and river systems 

 of the district it will be gathered that it is of a very varied character. 

 While a considerable portion of the Vale and the Thames meadows at 

 Oxford do not exceed 200 feet in elevation, and decrease to 160 feet at 

 Mongewell, yet the Chalk eminences reach 840 feet, and the southern 

 boundary is for a considerable distance over 600 feet in altitude. The 

 eastern elevation at Foxcombe Hill is over 535, and the northern water- 

 shed is between 300 and 400 feet, its highest point being ' Faringdon 

 Clumps,' a distinguished landmark for many miles, which formerly 



