Brightwell Bensington Britwell Prior..... Badgmoor Cornwell.... Chadlington Chesterton (Great).... Culham Cuddesdon Palace.... Cane-End 110 Samuel Gardiner, Esq. resident. Ditchley Park........ Lord Viscount Dillon. Chiselhampton Hardwick Harpsden Holton Park Ipsden Joyce Grove.... Kirtlington Park .... P. L. Powys, Esq. resident. Thomas Hall, Esq. resident. Edmund Biscoe, Esq. resident. Sir Henry Watkin Dashwood, Bart. re- Kingstou Blount...... Richard Clerke, Esq. Ralph de Mortemer. Richard de Curci. Wido de Reinbodcurth. Alured, grandson of Wigot. Wido de Oilgi. Walter Ponz. William Leuric. William, son of Manne. Ilbod, brother of Ern. de Hes- Robert, son of Murdrac. Benzelin. Countess Judith. The wife of Roger de Ivri. Turchill. Rich. Ingania, and servants of the King. Land of Earl William. The chief Landholders at the present period, (independently of the Church, and different Corporate Bodies of the University,) will be found among the Families named as Proprietors, or occupiers, of THE MOST REMARKABLE SEATS IN THE COUNTY. Adwell Mrs. Jones, resident. Aston Rouant........ John Caillaud, Esq. BLENHEIM His Grace the Duke of Marlborough. Blandford Park ...... Duke of Marlborough; but used as a Brightwell Britwell Prior...... William Lowndes Stone, Esq. resident. Thomas Weld, Esq. proprietor: the man- Badgmoor... --- Joseph Grote, Esq. resident. Crowsley Park .... Cane-End Chiselhampton John Atkins Wright, Esq. resident. William Vanderstegen, Esq. resident. Ditchley Park........ Lord Viscount Dillon. Ensham Hall........ Colonel Thomas Parker, resident, Glympton Grove Cottage Gould's Heath Lloyd Wheate, Esq. resident. Grey's Court... Heythorp Hardwick Harpsden Holton Park Ipsden Joyce Grove Kirtlington Park.... Richard Davis, Esq. resident. George Davis, Esq. resident. P. L. Powys, Esq. resident. Edmund Biscoe, Esq. resident. John Read, Esq. resident. Thomas Toovey, Esq. resident. Sir Heury Watkin Dashwood, Bart. resident. Kingstou Blount...... Richard Clerke, Esq. North Aston Newington Oldfield Bowles, Esq. resident. Nether Kiddington.... A seat of the Gore family. Nethercot Nuneham Park Rousham Rycot Park Shiplake Hill........ Shipton Shelswell Shirburn Castle Stonor George White, Esq. resident. Richard Paul Jodrell, Esq. Earl of Harcourt. Sir Charles Cottrell Dormer, Bart. (a minor.) Earl of Abingdon, Lord Mark Kerr. Lady Read, resident. Harrison, Esq. resident. Thomas Stonor, Esq. resident. George Schutz, Esq. resident. ... Colonel Sibthorpe. Henry Calverley Cotton, Esq. ... Rev. Dr. Barkley. Lord Charles Spencer, resident. In number, beauty, and magnificence of public buildings and private structures, Oxfordshire at least powerfully rivals, and may, probably, be said with truth to exceed any county in Eng land. land. The assemblage of collegiate edifices in the city of Oxford is a rich treasure of ancient art, justly the boast of natives, and the admiration of foreigners. The palace of Blenheim is well known to be the most sumptuous residence possessed by any subject in the whole of an island affluent in domestic architecture; and though, comparatively, not many of the nobility reside in the county, the mansions inhabited by those few are of a secondary character only when compared with that august building. The seats constructed by the gentry are numerous, and highly respectable. In the catalogue exhibited to King James I. the number of churches in Oxfordshire is stated to be 195, of which eighty-eight were of the description termed appropriate ;* but Camdent makes the number resulting from his survey to be not less than 280. Among these parochial edifices there are some interesting specimens of the Saxon, and many fine examples of the English, or Gothic, mode of architecture. The facility with which building materials are procured causes the habitations of agriculturists, and all other persons in the middle class of life, to be commodious, substantial, and agreeable to the eye. The same abundance of materials happily operates to the benefit of that lowly order which it is the duty of every landholder to cherish as the strength and sinews of his hereditary right. The cottages tenanted by rustic labourers are, in general, solid and comfortable; a circumstance not always to be found in some counties, even in the neighbourhood of the gaudiest mansions. The excellence of internal regulation which prevails in this district seems evident from the low standard of the county rates. These do not amount, on an average, to more than three-pence in the pound, though a new gaol has been built at Oxford within the E 2 * Such as, by the authority of the Pope, and with the consent of the king, and bishop of the diocese, were settled upon monasteries, bishoprics, col leges, and kospitals, whose revenues were but, small, either because, they were built upon their ground, or were granted by the lords of the manor. Camden, concerning the division of Britain, page 170. |