The bare Lias and Oolite uplands and the flood plain gravels were sites of late Neolithic set tlement, as witness numerous Long Barrows (characteristic of the Cotswold area) as far east as the Cherwell. The Rollright stones (probably Neolithic) on the Oolite scarp need special mention. Quantities of bones of cattle, pigs, sheep, etc., are found in the gravels, and pottery (characteristic of the Wash area) is distrib uted east of the Cherwell-Thames line. Settlement on the dip slope of the Chilterns was debarred by forests, as also in the for ested north-eastern portion of the county, but the Icknield Way, generally on the Greensand, and the Ridgeway, on the Chalk above, followed the scarp face to the Thames crossing, forming parallel routes to a trackway along the limestone uplands. An influx of the people who made Beaker pottery is indicated for the region between the Evenlode and the Windrush and on the valley gravels (Eynsham, Stanlake, Brighthampton, Oxford, Burcot, Dorchester, etc.). In the Iron Age camps were established along the same routes (e.g., Chastleton, Tadmarton). During the Roman period the area was thickly populated and roads were made linking Alchester and Dorchester in the Cherwell-Thames with Towcester (Northamptonshire) to the north and Silchester (Hampshire) to the south. Alchester was also connected by Akeman Street with Verulamium (Hertfordshire) to the east and Cirencester (Glou cestershire) to the west. The Saxon settlements are noticeably on valley sites, occupied in pre-Roman times, and these have con tinued as nucleated settlements to the present day; isolated farms are noticeably on plateau or vale from which forest was cleared comparatively late. In the 6th century the West Saxons took Benson and Eynsham. (See the Saxon Chronicle for 571.) In the 7th century the Mercians held all the northern border of the Thames, and during the 8th century this district fell to Wessex after the battle of Burford, and to Mercia after a battle at Benson, when it was included in the diocese of Lincoln. The bishopric at Dorchester given to Birinus (the apostle of Wessex), 634, seems to have come to an end on the establishment of the see of Win chester. Before the Mercian conquest in 777 Oxfordshire was in the diocese of Sherborne. In 873 the jurisdiction of Dorchester reached to the Humber, and when the Danes were converted it extended over Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire form ing about an eighth of the diocese. In 1o92 the seat was trans ferred to Lincoln. In 1542 a bishopric of Osney and Thame was established, taking its title from Oxford, the last abbot of Osney being appointed to it. In 1546 the existing bishopric of Oxford was established. The ecclesiastical boundaries remain as they were when archdeacons were first appointed—the county and arch deaconry being conterminous—and the county being almost entirely in the diocese of Oxford.
The Danes overran the county during the 11th century; Thur kell's army burnt Oxford in Ioio, and the combined armies of Sweyn and Olaf crossed Watling Street and ravaged the district, Oxford and Winchester submitting to them. At Oxford, in io18, Danes and Englishmen chose Eadgar's law. Here also Harold allowed Tostig to be outlawed and Morkere to be chosen earl in his place, thus preparing the way for his own downfall and for the Norman Conquest. The destruction of houses in Oxford recorded in the Domesday Survey may possibly be accounted for by the ravages of the rebel army of Eadwine and Morkere on this occa sion. Large possessions in the county fell to the Conqueror, and to Odo, bishop of Winchester. The bishop of Lincoln and many religious houses (e.g., Abingdon, Osney and Godstow) held much land in the county. Robert D'Oiloi, heir of Wigod of Wallingford, held many manors and houses in Oxford, of which town he was governor. The importance of Oxford was already well established; the shire moot there is mentioned in Canute's Oxford laws, and it was the seat of the county court from the first, the castle being the county gaol. For events between this period and the Civil War
see OXFORD (city). The dissolution of the monasteries, though it affected the county greatly, caused no general disturbance.
When King Charles I. won the battle of Edgehill (Oct. 23, 1642), Oxford at once became the stronghold of the royalist cause. For the campaign of 1643 its role was to detain the main parliamentary army until the royalists from the north and the west could come up, after which the united forces were to close upon London. More than once, notably at Chalgrove Field (June 18, 1643), Prince Rupert's cavalry struck hard and successfully. In the campaign of Newbury skirmishes took place as the parlia mentary troops under Essex passed through north Oxfordshire on their way to the relief of Gloucester, and at the close of the campaign the fortresses of the county offered the defeated roy alists a refuge which Essex was powerless to disturb. In the fol lowing campaign Charles abandoned the idea of an envelopment and decided to use Oxfordshire as the stronghold from which to strike in all directions. Material wants made it impossible for Charles to maintain permanently his central position, and eventu ally Essex headed for the south-west, leaving Waller to face the king alone. The battle of Cropredy Bridge followed (Jan. 29), and the victorious king turned south to pursue and capture Essex at Lostwithiel in Cornwall. In the operations of 1644 Oxfordshire again served as a refuge and base (Newbury and Donnington). On the appearance of Cromwell and the New Model army a fresh interest arose. Leaving Windsor (April 20,
the future Protector carried out a daring cavalry raid. He caught the royalists unawares at Islip, pursued the fugitives to Bletch ington and forced the governor to surrender. He swept round Oxford, fought again at Bampton, and rejoined Fairfax, in Berk shire. A few days later Charles again marched northwards, while Fairfax was ordered to besiege Oxford. Charles was compelled to turn back to relieve the city, and the consequent delay led to the campaign and disaster of Naseby. Yet even after Naseby Oxford shire still retained its importance, but in 1646 the Roundheads closed in from all sides and Stow-on-the-Wold witnessed the final battle of the war. On May 9 Banbury surrendered, on June 24 Oxford capitulated, and three days later Wallingford, the last place to give in, followed its example.
The limestone of the Oolite series has pro vided beautiful material for both ecclesiastical and domestic architecture, the castles, of which there are few, were probably built for temporary defence in the civil strife of Stephen's reign (I I00-1135). Considerable portions of the Norman Oxford castle survive, and slighter remains of the castle at Bampton, the seat of Aylmer de Valence in 1313. Among remains of former man sions Greys Court near Henley-on-Thames (14th century), Min ster Lovell, on the Windrush above Witney, and Rycote, between Thame and Oxford may be noted. Minster Lovell was the seat of Francis, Lord Lovel, the son of a Lancastrian who incurred the hatred of that party by serving Richard III.; he afterwards aided Lambert Simnel, and mysteriously disappeared after the battle of Stoke. Rycote is of fine Elizabethan brick and in the chapel attached to the manor there is remarkable Jacobean woodwork, the entire fittings being of this period. Here Elizabeth resided both before and after her accession. Broughton castle near Ban bury (14th century), Shirburn Castle (mainly 15th century Perpendicular), and Stanton Harcourt (1450, with a gatehouse of 1540, a vast kitchen, and Pope's Tower) are ancient mansions still inhabited. Mapledurham, on the Thames above Reading, is a fine Tudor mansion of brick; and Water Eaton on the Cherwell, is a singularly perfect Jacobean house of stone. Blenheim palace, near Woodstock, should also be mentioned.