Search the Site
Create a Site
Read the News
Whats On
Oxfordshire the garden of England
The ox18 postal region of Oxfordshire England, which lies between two beautiful features of the English landscape.
To the north are the Cotswold hills which encompasses towns like Chipping Norton, Burford, Stow On the Wold, etc and villages like Bourton on the Water, Windrush, all of which have their own unique character and history
- Good stone is plentiful in the Cotswolds - the Cotswolds are Oolitic limestone uplands which have provided some of the finest building stone in England. The great colleges of Oxford are built from it, St. Paul's Cathedral is built from it, and in the Cotswolds it is used to build everything from coffins to cottages to castles.
- The money for these fine Cotswold houses came
from sheep and wool, and since Roman times that wealth has been used to create one of the most beautiful landscapes in England. Stone doesn't rot or burn, it stays put and when it serves a purpose, people continue to use it. The massive 13th.C tithe barn in Frocester is still being used as a barn,
- Money goes where money is, and although the woollen industry has gone, the Cotswolds have a reputation as a rural retreat for the rich. Some manor houses have become hotels or schools but many are still private residences. Prince Charles lives in the Cotswolds at Highgrove near Tetbury, and Princess Anne at Gatcombe Park near Minchinhampton
-
To the south, the Thames valley, where
the river Thames starts out at Seven Springs in Gloucestershire, and winds its way to the sea at London, on its journey it is added to from other rivers like the Windrush which brings the water from the Cotswold hills, it twists back and forth across the Thames Valley as if trying to escape from its own confines, The flow of the water is interrupted at various places by Locks which make the river navigable by boat, mostly for pleasure these days, but it used to be for commercial purposes, for instance the stones for the rebuilding St Pauls in London were transported from Radcot having been quarried at Taynton in the Cotswold's
- The Thames is so central to and intertwined with the history of England that it has been described as "Liquid History". It has been used as a highway,
transporting both people and goods for centuries, and was the scene of many historic battles, forming a natural line of defence.
- It is said that the river may take its name from the Sanskrit 'tamas' meaning "dark" as its waters are often dark and cloudy; another school of thought is that it is named after the Roman 'Tam' meaning "wide" and 'Isis' meaning "water".
- The history of the Thames is of course ongoing, it is a river of mystery with an extraordinary past. It has seen kings, queens, artists and scholars come and go, witnessed battles and the building and destruction of great monuments - and will outlive us all.
- The river banks have witnessed many important moments in English history, such as the signing of the
Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215.