INTRODUCTION. XXV 
dula, Reseda lutea, Callitriche obtusangula, C. hamulata, Verbena, 
Ceratophyllum, Onopordon, Digitalis ? Ornithogalum umbella- 
tum, Calamintha menthefolia, Pinguicula, Carex flava. 
The scenery of the district is very tame, an uninteresting 
series of ploughed fields bare of trees being the prevalent feature. 
The Cherwell drainage forms two districts, viz. the Upper 
Cherwell or Swere district, and the Lower Cherwell or 
Ray district, whose boundaries are as follows :— 
3. The Swere or Upper Cherwell district is a large tract in 
the north of the county,.about 17 miles long, from Claydon to 
Somerton, and 22 miles wide, from Rollright to Stratton 
Audley. On the south-west it commences at Over Norton 
Common and follows very nearly upon the line of 1°31 long., by 
Great Rollright to the Warwick boundary; this it follows 
until it meets with the Stour district, at the north-west corner 
of which it again follows the Warwickshire boundary north- 
wards, by Epwell and Shenlow hills, and the southern escarp- 
ment of Edgehill, by Mollington (which it excludes) to Claydon, 
and Claydon Hay, to the three shire stones. Hence it marches 
with the Northamptonshire boundary southwards, by Warding- 
ton and Chalcomb, to Banbury, where the Cherwell forms the 
boundary between the two counties as far south as Aynhoe. The 
Swere district, however, follows the Northants boundary east- 
wards, by Souldern to Round Hill Farm, when turning round 
westerly it bounds the Ouse district on the north, as far as 
Somerton, thence it follows an arbitrary line across the Cherwell 
valley to the ‘Fox and Crown,’ near Dunstew. From Dunstew 
westward its boundary follows the watershed of the Worton 
brook along the turnpike road through Ledwell, Great Tew, to 
Over Norton Common. 
Besides the main stream of the Cherwell, this district is 
drained by the Swale brook, the Swere, the Worton brook, 
the Tor brook, the Croughton brook, and other small 
streams. 
The Cherwell itself rises in Northamptonshire, from the high 
ground (at least 450 feet) about Charwelton (which in a mile 
radius also gives rise to the Leam and Avon), and enters 
Oxfordshire at Wardington, flowing south by Cropredy, where 
a skirmish took place between Rupert and the Parliamentarians, 
