BOTANY 



2. The Cherwell District 



The boundaries of this district are as follows : From Charwelton to the Warwick- 

 shire border near Marston Hill it is bounded by the Avon district as already described ; from 

 this point near Marston Hill to the Three-shire Stone, near Wormleighton reservoir, its 

 western limit is the county boundary of Warwickshire. At the Three Mile Stone Oxford- 

 shire takes the place of Warwickshire, and the county boundary limits our district on the 

 west as far south as Aynhoe. It then also forms our boundary on the south along a line which 

 may be traced across country to the Cottisford racecourse on the Brackley turnpike road, 

 and then follows that road to the ' Barley Mow ' Inn, where it touches the water-parting of 

 the Ouse. From the ' Barley Mow,' near Evenley, our separating line is drawn along the 

 Brackley road to Evenley, and then along the road to King Sutton as far as to Rowler Farm, 

 when a northerly direction is taken towards Farthinghoe, leaving Hinton-in-the-Hedges in the 

 Ouse district to the east, and then taking in Farthinghoe, it passes between Marston St. Lawrence 

 and Gretworth, the latter being in the Ouse district. As we proceed northwards the boundary 

 line is traced along the high ground to the east of Thorpe Mandeville, Culworth and Moreton 

 Pinkney to Adston, Preston Field, Preston Capes, and Charwelton. From Preston Capes to 

 Charwelton the Nene district forms its northern boundary. 



The Cherwell issues from a spring rising in the cellar of Charwell House from an elevated 

 table-land of Lias capped here and there by outliers of Oolite at an altitude of over 500 feet 

 above the level of the sea, and from this table-land springs send their waters respectively 

 to the German Ocean and the Bristol Channel. At Charwelton, on the Marlstone, the 

 infant Cherwell is crossed by a picturesque and interesting stone horse-bridge. Then it 

 flows by Woodford and Edgcott and the ancient battlefield of Danesmoor, near which at 

 Ayles Mill it enters Oxfordshire. A few miles south of this at Chacombe the Cherwell 

 divides the counties of Oxford and Northampton as far south as to Aynhoe, flowing through 

 alluvial meadows resting on the Lower Lias clay. Above Chacombe comes in the Warwick- 

 shire branch of the river, and other feeders from both sides of the valley, which has hitherto 

 consisted of a broadly undulating tract, but now assumes a more contracted character, and the 

 river cuts through ridges of more unequal elevation. It passes Banbury (where the datum 

 mark is about 300 feet above sea-level) and the river, which has cut its way down to the 

 Liassic rocks, passes King Sutton and the well wooded park of the Cartwrights near Aynhoe, 

 where a small brook, which rises near Evenley Castle and passes by Croughton, and the 

 southern part of Aynhoe Park, forms the county boundary. The Cherwell now becomes 

 wholly an Oxfordshire stream, and at Oxford merges with the Thames at a spot where the 

 river is about I go feet above sea-level. The catchment basin of the whole of the Cherwell 

 valley is estimated as about 500 square miles. The Cherwell district has its counterpart in 

 Warwickshire, and Mr. Bagnall has made the portion drained by this stream District 10 of his 

 Flora of IVarwichhire ; the highest ground in the district in that county being a portion of 

 Edgehill, 766 feet above the sea-level. Mr. Bagnall complains that his district is rather poor in 

 interesting species, but he records a willow-herb [Epilobium roseum) which at present is not 

 known in this county, although very likely to be found. The Cherwell district corresponds 

 also to the districts called the Swere or Upper Cherwell and the Ray or Lower Cherwell of 

 my Flora of Oxfordihire, but these are much larger than the Northamptonshire district and con- 

 tain several species not recorded for our county. One of these, the water avens [Geum 

 rivale), so far as Oxfordshire is concerned, practically confined to the Cherwell basin, being 

 rather frequent by the river only a short distance from the Northamptonshire boundary, 

 and I do not yet despair of adding it to our county list. Among the other plants found in 

 Oxfordshire which we lack are Rosa agrestis {R. sfpium), R. systyla, Pulicaria vulgaris, 

 Juniperus communis, Anthemis nobilis, Arabis perfoliata, Viola palustris, Vicia lathyroides, and 

 Car ex axillaris. 



Notwithstanding the absence of these species, this district is quite an interesting one, as 

 there is considerable variety in the geological formations from the Lower Lias clay to the 

 Marlstone, Upper Lias clay, Northampton sands, and the Great Oolite, and the latter is in 

 places covered with drift. Although there is no great extent of woodland, there are some 

 interesting spinneys, while a few portions of bog still remain. One of these owes its existence 

 to a patch of drift clay overlying the Great Oolite near Evenley. Although this piece of bog 

 is very small, it is remarkable how many species which are absent from the greater portion of 

 the district are still to be found in it. The beautiful grass of Parnassus {Parnassia palustris) 

 still lingers there with the marsh helleborine {Epipactis palustris), the grass Molinia varia, the 



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