INTRODUCTION. 3 



From Fyfield; and the valley of the Evenlode at Shlptou- 

 under-Wychwood, to Burford in the valley of the Wiudrush, 

 stretches a wide expanse of high ground, formerly grassy down, 

 but now entirely under the plough. A hleak^ monotonous 

 tractj in which hedges and hedgerow timber are alike absent ; 

 the stony fields are separated by grey stone walls, and the 

 only trees present are a few isolated clumps which are land- 

 marks for miles. Bird-life is scarce up here, the Lark being 

 the most abundant species. Burford itself lies in the sheltered 

 valley of the rapid Windrush, where green meadows, hedges, 

 and elms relieve the eye. 



North-eastwards, stretching with scattered woods to Ditch- 

 ley, near Kiddington, and the great Park which Heniy I en- 

 closed at Woodstock, we have the remains of Wychwood 

 Forest; but only about Leafield and Cornbury is there any 

 large extent of woodland at the present day. 



South of the valley of the Windrush, between Burford and 

 Witney (the river bending south-east after passing the latter 

 place), the ground again rises, and is intersected with little 

 valleys running south-eastward to the low ground along the 

 upper reaches of the Isis. 



From Kelmscote, along the l)anks of the Isis past Bampton 

 to Stanton Harcourt, the land is wet and low-lying, and 

 comprises some of the most lonely reaches of the river. 

 Previous to the time of the enclosures the area bordered by 

 the river from Radcot Bridge to Newbridge contained some 

 thousands of acres of unenclosed and undrained common land, 

 a great part of which for some time in each year consisted of 

 spongy morass intersected by backwaters of the river. Here 

 was a paradise for the wildfowl-shooter. But an Enclosure 

 Act was passed in 1848, and a Drainage Act in 1866, and the 

 glories of wildfowling soon passed away. Yet when the 

 Rev. J. W. B. Bell came to Aston in 1874 he found many 

 relics of the old days in the cottages and farm houses; a 

 curious packer stalking-horse, under cover of which the ducks 

 were approached, long antique duck-guns, some of which had 

 been converted from flint-locks, and stuffed specimens of 

 uncommon waterfowl. 



B 2 



