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164 
OXFORDSHIRE. 
invaders, and were admitted as tributary allies of the 
Roman people. Hence Cogidumnus, their legitimate 
prince, was not only continued in the government of his 
own territories, but had other dates placed under his au¬ 
thority. The fame power and privileges defcended to his 
fuccefi’ors, each of whom, in union with his fubjedls, 
evinced on all occafions a firm adherence to their illuf- 
trious fuperiors, during the whole period of the refidence 
of the Romans in Britain. 
When the heptarchy was eftablifhed, Oxfordfhire be¬ 
came part of the powerful kingdom of Mercia, and re¬ 
mained annexed to that monarchy to the latelt period of 
its independence. 
In the fubfequent contefts which enfued between the 
Danes and the Saxons, feveral very obftinate and furious 
engagements were fought within the limits of Oxford- 
fliire. Hoke-Norton is remarkable for a dreadful daugh¬ 
ter of the Kentilh divifion of the army of Edward the 
Eider, by the Danes, and the Five Burgher infurgents 
under the command of Ethelwald. 
In the wars between the houfes of York and Lancafter, 
feveral perfons of eminence belonging to this county loft 
their lives and properties ; but it had the good fortune to 
efcape the deftrudlive ravages which at this period defo- 
lated many other diftridts of the kingdom. In one in- 
ftance only did the partifans on either fide enter Oxford- 
fliirein arms. This was in the year 1469, when the earl 
of Warwick took poll near Banbury, and foon after com¬ 
pletely overthrew the Yorkifts under the command of 
the earl of Pembroke, whom he took prifoner, and thus 
paved the way for the temporary reftoration of Henry VI. 
The fcene of this decilive adlion was the plain called 
Danefmore, on the border of the county. 
Oxfordfhire, however, was not fo much favoured during 
the next great civil contefts which divided the people of 
England, and deluged her fertile fields with the blood of 
her own citizens; for, though the inhabitants do not feem 
to have embraced with fenfelefs zeal either the republican 
or royal caufe, it was their calamity to feel the iron rod 
of war with peculiar feverity. The contending armies 
frequently traverfed the county from one extremity to 
the other, levying contributions, and committing excefles 
equally deftrudlive to the great body of the people, whe¬ 
ther the troops in pofleflion marched under the banners of 
the king, or of the parliament. 
This county exhibits confiderable variety of afpedl. In 
its fouthern divifion, an alternation of hill and dale is 
productive of many pleafing difplays of pidlorial fcenery. 
The Chiltern Hills, partly clothed with wood, and fome- 
times arable almolt to their fummits, poflefs a rich di- 
verfity of appearance. The middle diftridl of the county 
is deftitute of this inequality of furface, fo favourable to 
beauty, but it is well wooded and highly fertile. In pro¬ 
ceeding more to the north, the fame flatnefs prevails; and, 
as the fields are generally inclofed by ftone fences, the eye 
“ is often fatigued by a rude and frigid monotony of 
fcene.” Here alfo the air is generally cold and piercing 
during the greater part of the year, and excefiively hot 
in the fummer-months. It is cold alfo throughout the 
whole Chiltern diftridts, efpecially on the poor chalk- 
lands, at the foot of the hills, where it is remarked that 
the froft will take effedt fooner, and continue longer, than 
on the deeper lands in the vicinity. In warm feafons, 
the fame diftridl is ufually moift, owing to the fogs, 
which are more frequent on the hills and woods than in 
the vales. 
No county is more plentifully fupplied with rivers. Dr. 
Plot fays there are no lefs than feventy diftindl ftreams, 
which either take their rife in this county or flow through 
it; nor do we believe the number is at all exaggerated, 
though at the fame time it muft be admitted that only a 
few of them are entitled to the denomination of confider¬ 
able rivers. The principal of thefe are, the Thame, the 
Ilis, the Charwell, the Evenlode, the Glym, the Ray, and 
the Windrufli. The whole of thefe rivers unite with 
4 
each other at different points of the county, and eventu¬ 
ally conftitute the Thames, or Thamifis. The chief branch 
of this river enters Oxfordfhire, under the denomination 
of the Ifis, at Kelmfcot, and proceeds in an irregular 
channel by Tynelham, Godftow, Oxford, and Abingdon 
in Berkfhire; to Dorchefter, where it is joined by the 
Thame, and is then called the Thames. Thence it con¬ 
tinues its courfe by Wallingford, Goring, Whitchurch, 
and Caverfham, to Henley, near which town it paffes into 
Buckinghamfhire. Throughout the whole of its current 
by Oxfordfhire, this river forms the boundary between it 
and the county of Berks, and exhibits in the fcenery of 
its banks much variety and beauty of afpedl. 
From the number of its rivers, Oxfordfhire abounds in 
meadows and paftures; but thefe are no longer, as in the 
time of Gibfon, the “ greateft glory” of the county, 
being much circumfcribed by the encroachments of ara¬ 
ble cultivation. A large tradl of meadow-land, on the 
banks of the Charwell, has been greatly injured by the 
conftrudtion of the canal from Oxford to Banbury. At 
Water Eaton is the bell grafs-land in the county. It is 
under-dairies which indeed conftitute the appropriation 
of molt of the meadow and pafture-grounds in Oxford¬ 
fhire. Butter is the chief article here, only a fmall pro¬ 
portion of cheefe being made for fale. The long-horned 
breed of cows is that generally preferred here. In the 
middie parts of the county a few oxen, cows, and fheep, 
are fatted; and a number of calves are fuckled for the 
London market. No watered meadows are found in Ox¬ 
fordfhire, though many places are extremely well adapted 
for their formation. 
Oxfordlhire is faid by Camden to have been anciently 
famous for its woods; and, even at prefent, except in the 
more northerly parts, it is better fupplied with trees than 
moll other counties of England. The only foreft, how¬ 
ever, within its boundaries, is that of Whichwood, which 
comprehends 6720 acres, 1 rood, and 39 poles. In this 
foreft, the oak, the afh, the beech, and the elm, are in¬ 
termixed; but the oak is moll abundant and thriving, 
and, in the courfe of half a century’s growth, will be per- 
fedtly fitted for naval purpofes. The Chiltern diftridl is 
profufely covered with beech, produced almoft entirely by 
the falling of the beech-mall, very little being permitted 
to grow on the old ftools. The other principal wood¬ 
lands in this county are thofe at Stanton-St.-John, called 
the Quarters, and at Blenheim, the feat of the duke of 
Marlborough. Smaller plantations are numerous ; almoft 
every gentleman’s feat in Oxfordlhire being more or lefs 
furrounded with trees of different ages and forts. 
The only trails of wafte land, of any very confiderable 
extent, are thofe fituated in the purlieus of Whichwood- 
foreft, and the deanery-diftridl, termed Ottmoor, which 
lies in the vicinity of Illip. The laft, which contains 
about 4000 acres, is commonable to eight adjoining town- 
Ihips. The whole of it is extremely flat and wet, and 
confequently unwholefome to cattle, as well as prejudi¬ 
cial to the neighbourhood. The foil, however, is good ; 
and, if drained, (which might be eafily effected,) and 
inclofed, would undoubtedly prove highly amenable to 
the purpofes of agriculture. The value of the grounds 
would thereby increafe to probably ten times their pre¬ 
fent amount. The fame may be faid of the wafte lands 
of Whichwood, and of the fmall commons in the north¬ 
ern diftridl; but thofe in the Chiltern divifion are not 
fufceptible of much culture. 
The only canal yet cut through any portion of Oxford¬ 
fhire is that which enters the county at its northern ex¬ 
tremity, between Claydon and the Three-Shire-Stone. 
Approaching the vicinage of the river Charwell at Cro- 
predy, it proceeds at a fmall diftance from the banks of 
that river to the city of Oxford, (whence it is called the 
Oxford Canal,) where its channel terminates, and is fuc- 
ceeded by the navigation of the Ifis. The probable ad¬ 
vantages which will accrue from this cut are very great, 
as a diredt water-communication has been thereby opened 
between 
