OXFORDSHIRE, an inland county of England, chiefly celebrated on account of its capital, which is one of the principal seats of learning in the British dominions, and from which city it has derived its name. It is bounded on the east by Buckinghamshire; on the south, south-west, and south-east by Berkshire; on the north-east by Northamptonshire; and on the north-west by the county of Warwick. The river Thames (called sometimes the Isis till it reaches Oxford) is the line of demarcation on the whole of its southern boundary; running between this county and Berkshire with various, and, in the latter part of its course, most beautiful sinuosities. The county is of a most irregular figure. Near the centre, in which the city of Oxford stands, it is not more than seven miles in breadth, and at no great distance to the north it is thirty-eight miles. Towards the north it resembles a çone, and to the south it is similarly contracted. Its extreme length is fifty miles. The extent is estimated at 742 square miles, or 474,880 English acres. It contains one city, twelve market-towns, and 207 parishes, and is divided into fourteen hundreds.

This county is by no means uniformly beautiful. On the north, the absence of hedges, which are supplied by stone walls, gives a dreary appearance to the face of the country. In the centre it is generally flat and woody, affording few pleasant prospects, though its trees and verdure give it the semblance of wealth. The southern part, from the beauty of its rivers, the gentle swelling of its hills, the verdant meadows between them, and the number of highly embellished residences of rich proprietors, is a district abounding with rural charms. The Chiltern Hills, the highest range in England south of the river Trent, belong to this portion. They are in many parts adorned with beech-woods, and in every interval of these woods cultivated quite to their summits.

The climate of the county varies according to the elevation and exposure. In the north, where no hedges impede the winter winds, the cold is somewhat severe; and the Chiltern Hills are frequently enveloped in damp fogs, especially in the more woody parts of them. Mr Arthur Young, in his Agricultural Survey of Oxfordshire, has formed a classification of the soils in the different districts of the county, which, like all similar estimates, must be received with hesitation, or at least with many exceptions. The red soil, found chiefly in the north, and by far the most fertile, he estimates at 79,635 acres. The land, provincially called stone-brash, found in the centre, and the surface of which is often covered with stones, amounts to 164,023 acres. The Chiltern lands, the soil of which is a loam resting everywhere on a bed of chalk, and covered with flint stones, are 64,778 acres. To these are added 166,400 acres under the description of miscellaneous, which comprehends all sorts of soil, from loose sand to the heaviest clay, and includes the rich meadows on the banks of the rivers.

Although this is wholly an agricultural county, and although much progress in improvement has been made of late years, yet the general practices are by no means equal to the average of those of the rest of England. The most beneficial husbandry is founded upon the valuable water-meadows on the banks of the different streams. These are naturally so fertile that they appear to have prevented that care which would render them still more productive. Little attention is paid to draining, and still less to irrigation; though the good effects of both these practices are obvious, and their accomplishment easy in many circumstances. Some few oxen are fattened, and butter and cheese made in the dairies, but the facility of navigation induces the farmers to make more hay than is consumed by their stock, and to send it to distant and higher markets than their own, nearer to the metropolis. On the arable fields, especially on the stony lands near Burford, the use of oxen for the plough is very common; and the Herefordshire breed is generally preferred for that purpose. The practice of paring and burning the surface prevails in many parts of the county; and in the newly enclosed lands the application of lime as a manure is highly beneficial; whilst on the Chiltern lands it is not found to produce a good effect equal to the expense which attends it.

Where the soils are so very various, the rotation of crops must necessarily vary with them. On the red soils, the most usual course is, 1st, turnips; 2d, barley, or springwheat; 3d, clover; 4th, wheat; 5th, peas or beans; and, 6th, oats. On the stone-brash lands, the usual rotation is, 1st, turnips; 2d, barley; 3d, clover, to stand for two years; 4th, wheat; and, oth, oats, peas, or sometimes, but rarely, beans. On the Chiltern lands the rotations are the same, with only slight variations. On both these last tracts of country, the cultivation of sainfoin is very extensive; occupying on most farms from one seventh to one eighth of the whole. This valuable artificial grass produces heavy crops. When it was first introduced, it would remain productive for fifteen or sixteen years; but since it has become more familiarized to the soil, it seldom lasts more than seven years so as to be fit to make hay, but yields food for sheep for one or two years afterwards. The sheep, which were formerly almost all of the Berkshire breed, have of late years been superseded by the race of the South Downs.

Oxfordshire is not a manufacturing district. Witney was long celebrated for its blankets, and still retains its fame; but, in spite of the machinery which has been introduced to diminish the price, the manufacturers of Yorkshire and Lancashire excel those produced here. At present, however, this trade gives employment to 270 persons in the town and two adjoining hamlets. At Banbury, and its adjacent hamlet Neithrop, 125 persons are occupied in making plushes and girth-webs, and a number in some other parishes within the county. Gloves of a superior kind are made at Woodstock and its vicinity; and [7:16:687]there are some of the finer kinds of cutlery made in that town. Sacking is made at Abingdon and at Henley; and many axles and coach-wheels at Henley-on-Thames.

The rivers all discharge themselves into the Thames. They are formed by the numerous small springs which are everywhere to be seen; and before they join the Thames, are called the Windrush, coming from Burford and Witney; the Evenlode, from Wichwood and Charlbury; and the Cherwell, from the vicinity of Banbury. The Thames, composed of the stream of that name and the Isis (on which a strange confusion has arisen), is navigable from near one of its sources, not far from Leachlade, to the sea. The barges navigating it are from seventy-five to one hundred tons burden, but the larger ones ascend no higher than Oxford. From the frequent recurrence of shoals, owing to the floods in winter, and the scarcity of water in summer, it is a dilatory navigation; so that frequently the passage from America to London occupies less time than from Leachlade to that city. The scarcity of fuel was severely experienced till within these last few years; but the completion of a canal which connects the city of Oxford with the collieries of Staffordshire has removed the evil, and proved highly profitable to the proprietors of that important work.

The city of Oxford, the glory of this county and of the kingdom, has already been described.

The antiquities of this county have been accurately described, and are deserving of the closest inspection. Amongst them are traces of the various roads formed by the Romans, whose principal station was at Dorchester; besides many funereal mounds, and the Vallum, called the Devil’s Ditch. The Priory of Godstow, and the ruins of many other religious houses, exhibit the architecture of different and remote ages.

The population of this county, according to the returns at the four decennial enumerations, has been as follows, viz. in 1801, 109,620; in 1811, 119,191; in 1821, 136,971; and in 1831, 152,100.

The occupiers of land employing labourers were 2054

Occupiers of land not employing labourers ...458 Labourers employed in agriculture 15,998

Labourers employed in manufactures 711

Labourers employed in retail trade or han dicraft 11,110

Capitalists, bankers, &c 2,254

Labourers not agricultural 3,049

Other males under twenty years of age 2,547

Male servants 1,223

Female servants 5,571

The towns within this county which contain more than 1000 inhabitants are the following:

Oxford 20,640 inhabitants.

Banbury 5,906

Witney 5,336

Henley-on-Thames 3,618

Bicester 2,868

Thame 2,885

Chipping Norton 2,637

Burford 1,866

Watlington 1,833

Bampton 1,605

Deddington 1,590

Woodstock 1,380

The whole county is in the diocese of its chief city. The members returned to the House of Commons under the new law are, three for the county, who are polled for at Oxford, Witney, Deddington, and Nettlebed; two each for the city and for the university of Oxford; and one each for the boroughs of Banbury and Woodstock.

The most distinguished residences are, Blenheim Cas tle, Duke of Marlborough; Blandford House, Duke of Beaufort; Brightwell, W. Lowndes Stowe, Esq.; Cud-desdon Palace, Bishop of Oxford; Crowsley Park, John Atkins Wright, Esq.; Ditchley Park, Lord Dillon; Grey’s Court, Lady Stapleton; Heythorp, Earl of Shrewsbury; Kirtlington Park, Sir H. W. Dashwood; Middleton Stoney, Earl of Jersey; Mongewell, Bishop of Durham; Mapledurham, Michael Blount, Esq.; Nuneham Park, Lord Vernon; Ry cot Park, Earl of Abingdon; Shiplake, Lord Mark Kerr; Shelswell, Harrison,

Esq.; Shirburn Castle, Earl of Macclesfield; Thane Park, Miss Wykham; Wroxton, Earl of Guildford; Waterstock, W. H. Ashhurst, Esq.; Wormsley, John Fane, Esq.; Wheatfield, Lord Churchill.

(See the Agricultural State of Oxfordshire, by Arthur Young; Pott’s Oxfordshire ; and Brewer’s Account of Oxfordshire, in the Beauties of England and Wales.)