A History Of The County Of Oxford XIX: Wychwood Forest And Environs Hardcover

SimonTownley

Until its partial clearance in the 1850s Wychwood forest, set in an undulating landscape on the edge of the Cotswolds, was one of the great royal forests of England, comparable with Savernake, Rockingham, or Whittlewood. This volume explores the history of the forest itself and of a dozen surrounding villages, of which Shipton-under-Wychwood was the centre of a large Anglo-Saxon royal estate and minster parish stretching across the area. Several villages were shaped by early woodland clearance, and most depended on the forest to varying degrees, supplementing traditional sheep-corn farming and small-scale industries such as pottery-making and quarrying. Neighbouring Cornbury park is well known for its nationally important 17th-century mansion house, and a slightly later country house survives at Bruern near the Gloucestershire border, on the site of a Cistercian abbey founded in 1147. Ascott-under-Wychwood acquired national notoriety in 1873 as home of the so-called "Ascott Martyrs", reflecting local agrarian difficulties.

9781904356516

English

Victoria County History

16 August 2019

436

Simon Townley

This latest addition to the Oxfordshire VCH volumes is greatly welcomed. Superbly edited by County Editor Simon Townley. MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY Offers a very informative and fascinating history of an attractive and interesting area of the Chilterns. ARCHIVES It is very well produced (including a first-rate block of colour plates), and easy and attractive to use. It shows that the VCH can preserve its traditional strengths while adapting to modern needs, and is another triumph for the Oxford team. LANDSCAPE HISTORY