34 THE THAMES AND ITS TRIBUTARY RIVERS, 



country between Naunton and Sherborne, and flows by the beau- 

 tiful grounds of Farmington and Sherborne Park, enters the Wind- 

 rush, and the river proceeds below elevated ridges and woody slopes, 

 by the villages called Windrush and Great and Little Barrington. 

 Taynton succeeds, famous for its excellent building stone, dug a 

 mile north of the village. The town of Burford comes next to sight, 

 with its handsome church built of Taynton stone,, in fine preserva- 

 tion ; followed by Widford, Swinbrook, Minster-Lovel with its 

 venerable walls, and Witney. From this once very important seat 

 of woollen manufacture the Windrush flows in full stream through 

 a flatter country, by Standlake, Stanton-Harcourt, and Bright- 

 hampton, to join the main river. The places just named have 

 several points of interest : one, the deserted residence of a noble 

 family, has magnificent monuments in the church, and interesting 

 memories connected with Alexander Pope ; the others have become 

 known to archaeologists from some recent discoveries of British 

 and Anglo-Saxon remains, now deposited in the Ashmolean Museum 

 at Oxford. The Windrush is the longest affluent of the Thames : 

 its course may be estimated at thirty miles, without regard to small 

 windings. It is a valuable stream for its many mills, and is at- 

 tractive alike to the angler, artist, and archaeologist. Several old 

 camps are seen along the higher grounds by its course. 



The Dickler. On most of the Cotswold streams the long beautiful 

 dales run far up into the thick oolites in many smoothly-winding 

 branches above and beyond any visible source of water. The 

 swiftly-running stream of Eyeford, a small branch of the Dickler, 

 which makes so fair an accompaniment to the picturesque villages 

 called Higher and Lower Slaughter, springs about Swellwold Farm, 

 while above that conspicuous establishment, dry valleys extend for 

 miles with all the naturally-continuous slopes which mark the 

 action of water. How refreshing in hot summer to come to one 

 of these life-giving sources ! What thankfulness, what veneration 

 may we not be permitted to feel, while breathing the cooler air 

 around the umbrageous birthplaces of these beneficent waters ! 



The welcome outburst of the clear swift rill which rushes from 

 the eastern foot of Swell Hill, and in a few hundred yards gives 

 its help to the main stream, is a good example of such springs. 

 A hill of inferior oolite, with traces of the Stonesfield slate, rises 

 300 feet above the brook. Through this rocky hill the rain, de- 



