Oxfordshire or Oxon

A large number of monastic foundations arose in the neighbour hood of the university; Augustinian at Bicester, Caversham, Cold Norton, Dorchester, Osney (a magnificent foundation just outside the walls of Oxford) and Wroxton ; Cistercian at Bruern and Thame; Benedictine, at Cogges, Eynsham, Milton; Mathurin, at Nuffield; Gilbertine, at Clattercote ; Templar at Sandf ord-on Thames. Gosford possessed one of the only two preceptories of female Templars in England. Of all these, excepting the abbey church at Dorchester, remains are scanty. A few domestic build ings remain at Studley; the boundary walls still stand of Godstow Nunnery on the Thames, the retreat and burial place of Rosamund Clifford, or "Fair Rosamond" the object of Henry II.'s famous courtship ; and there are traces of Rewley Abbey within Oxford.

In ecclesiastical architecture Oxfordshire, apart from Oxford itself, is remarkably rich, but nearly all the churches are of mixed dates. Iffley, Adderbury and Minster Lovell are types of a single style. Iffley, I m. S. of Oxford, is one of the finest examples of pure Romanesque in England, with a highly ornate west front. Adderbury, 4 m. S. of Banbury, is a great cruciform Decorated church with a massive central tower and spire. Minster Lovell, also cruciform, is pure Perpendicular; its central tower is sup ported on four detached piers. The short, ungainly spire of Oxford cathedral was among the earliest, if not the first, constructed in England, and served as a model from which were probably devel oped the splendid central spires of the great churches at Witney, Bampton, Shipton-under-Wychwood and Bradwell. There arc also fine spires at Bloxham, Adderbury and King's Sutton (in Northants). Bloxham church, mainly Decorated, with Roman esque portions and a remarkable Early English west front is one of the largest and most beautiful in the county. In the west, Bur ford (Romanesque and later) is noteworthy, and in the porch of the fine Romanesque church of Langford is a crucifix with the figure cloaked. At South Leigh are remarkable mural paintings of the 15th century. About 5 m. N. of Oxford there are Kidling ton (Decorated), with a beautiful needle-like Perpendicular spire, and Islip, as the birthplace of Edward the Confessor. In the south-east Dorchester Abbey, with its nave of transitional Nor man, has a curious Decorated Jesse window. At Cuddesdon there is another cruciform church, Romanesque and later. Ewelme church (Perpendicular) is remarkable for the tomb of Alice, Duchess of Suffolk (1475), gorgeous with tracery and gilded canopy, and that of Sir Thomas Chaucer (1434), ornamented with enamelled coats of arms. Here William de la Pole, Duke of Suf

folk, founded in 1436 the picturesque hospital and free school still standing.

Climate and Agriculture.

The climate, healthy and dry, except in the low ground bordering the Thames, is colder than the other southern districts in England, especially in the exposed regions of the Chilterns. The county is essentially rural. The sur face soils lie in belts, corresponding to the underlying rocks, the heavy clays giving rise to grass lands and the calcareous, sandy soils to arable. Many villages occur where springs issue at the junction of permeable and impermeable strata, thus securing flood-plain pasture for cattle, upland pasture for sheep and upland patches of lighter soil, with a sandy aspect, which could be worked by primitive communities often with a two-field rotation. Wool was early a source of wealth and was famous in the 12th and 13th centuries. Salt is mentioned in Domesday as a product of the county; glass was made at Benson and Stokenchurch in the reign of Henry VI. and other subsidiary products were plush at Ban bury, leather at Bampton and Burford, gloves at Woodstock, and malt at Henley. At the beginning of the i4th century, Oxford was the second most prosperous county in England, but the Black Death and decreasing arable land, the enclosures of the 16th century and the wars of the 17th, brought depression and discontent, and on the enclosure of Otmoor (183o) serious riots broke out.

At the present day a high proportion of the county (nearly seven-eighths) is under cultivation. Stock are raised on the clay lowlands, and dairying (Shorthorns, Alderneys and Devonshire cows) is important. The Cornbrash is specially good for grain growing, and good crops of wheat, oats and barley are grown ac. ire 1926). Sheep (Southdowns, Leicesters and Cots wolds) are still reared in large numbers on the uplands and are folded on the root crops (turnips, swedes, mangolds), which are important. The cultivation of sugar-beet is a growing industry (1,196 ac. in 1926). Many pigs are reared and poultry do well on gravel sites. The county has few mineral resources ; iron is ob tained from the Middle Lias and the Inferior Oolite at various places; Oolitic limestone is quarried for cement, stone slates and, though less than formerly, for building stone. The clays are used for brickmaking; and have been largely utilized for the building of the new town which has arisen around the motor industry at Cowley south-east of Oxford.