394 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.— H. 



32. Miss Simpson. — Wychicood Village Sites. 



The area to be described includes part of the Jurassic escarpment, which crosses 

 Engla-nd from S.W. to N.E., and is known towards the S.W. as the ' Cotswold Hills.' 

 Here it forms an upland mainly of limestone, and is dissected by valleys in which lias 

 clay is sometimes exposed. Owing to the south-easterly dip of the strata, Oxford 

 clay covers the surface of the limestone plateau, in patches, towards the east and 

 south. The streams crossing this region are the Evenlode and Windrush, both tributary 

 to the Thames, and each with tributary valleys which are usually occupied by streams 

 but sometimes partially dry. Owing to alternation of strata of different degrees of 

 porosity, springs occur on or near the valley sides, and their distribution is important 

 for human settlement. Wychwood Forest formerly covered nearly all this region 

 between the Evenlode and Windrush. It is now restricted to a very small area 

 adjoining Cornbury Park. The different geological formations show some influence on 

 vegetation, and this can be traced in the distribution of arable and grass land before 

 the enclosures of the nineteenth century, and is also indicated in many old field-names. 



Types of villages have been classified in various ways — in this area the ' valley ' 

 or ' spring-line ' type predominates. The sites of villages in this area as well as those 

 of remains of Roman or prehistoric settlements may be considered in relation to 

 geological formations, springs, previously forested areas, and communications. 



As there are no large towns in this region, there are no great contrasts in the 

 density of population per parish. The changes in population according to the census 

 returns of the last 120 years should be considered in connection with the enclosure of 

 common fields, the coming of the railways, and the character of local industries. 



33. Miss C. Butler. — Some Results of Local Lore Surveys by Oxfordshire 



Schools. (With exhibit.) 



A small group of village teachers and schools, mostly in remote parts of Oxford- 

 shire, have for the last year or two been endeavouring, with the approval of the 

 L.E.A. and with some help from Barnett House, to ' discover ' their immediate 

 neighbourhoods. They have done this on an ordered plan, as far as possible by direct 

 observation and inquiry, but also largely using, supplementing, and comparing 

 diagrams based on the six-inch ordnance map for their district. 



Thus on tracings of outlines of fields they have inserted the local field-names — 

 comparing these, when possible, with those given in sixteenth and eighteenth century 

 enclosure maps — and the crops, comparing these with the geological map and with 

 their tracings showing contours and water-supply. They have drawn and walked 

 round the parish boundaries, trying to work out reasons for their shape ; they have 

 recorded the farm-stock (including fowls and rabbits), and means of communication 

 (cycles, etc.). (The villages are small, and the children could get such information 

 without becoming inquisitorial.) 



These surveys are in no way finished ; the process of their manufacture is not 

 itseK new, but it is believed that they have not as yet been attempted quite in this 

 form by village schools. 



The group concerned has prepared a small exhibit of the material so far collected. 

 This is on view, and consists of (o) maps (mostly on tracing-paper for superimposition) 

 and illustrations ; (6) co-operative and individual note-books, mainly on local history, 

 industries, and customs ; (c) a few specimens of surviving agricultural implements 

 {e.g. a breast-plough). 



The object of the exhibit and of this brief paper is to show what can be done in 

 a year or so : (a) to tap a comparatively fresh source of interest for country children 

 and their elders (the surveys have given much pleasure to their makers) ; (6) to connect 

 village-school work with village life ; (c) to give a picture of existing conditions. 



These villages, like others less remote, are in process of rapid change ; and a local 

 Domesday survey fresh from the soil, even if imperfect, may not be without value as 

 a record of departing customs and methods. 



34. Mr. Wilfrid Bonsor. — Elfshot. 



Before the causes of disease were known, illness was often attributed to the agency 

 of supernatural beings, and especially to the arrows of the elf-kind. Magic was 

 employed for protection against them. The doctrine of elfshot is a characteristic 

 of Anglo-Saxon and also of Finnish magic and medicine. With both peoples the 



