BICESTER (bis'tur), urban district of Oxfordshire, England, I2M. N.N.E. of Oxford by the L.M.S.R.; pop. (1931) 3,109. It lies in a pastoral country on the northern edge of the open plain of Ot Moor. The termination cester, commonly indicating Roman origin, does not appear to do so here, and is perhaps copied from Alchester and Chesterton, a village two miles west of Bicester, where a Roman site has been recognized at the junction of roads from the south (Dorchester) and from the west, north east and east. There are records of the settlement (Berncestre, Burencestre, Bissiter) from the time of Domesday. In 1182 Gil bert Basset founded an Augustinian priory which was the centre of industrial life until its dissolution in 1538. Richard II. granted a fair and a Monday market, and in 144o an additional market was granted, to be held in that part of the town called Bury-End, from this date known as Market-End. In the i6th century the cattle market was specially famous.
The church of St. Eadburg contains examples of Norman and each succeeding style. There are scanty remains of the Augus tinian priory. Bicester never possessed any manufactures of im portance. It has considerable agricultural trade and is famous as a hunting centre. It lies on the G.W.R. line from London to Birmingham.