OXLADE FAMILY HISTORY

"Dwellers in the Valley of the Oaks"

HISTORY OF OXFORDSHIRE

Iffley Road ( built in 1778 as the new Henley Road ) was itself a country road, outside the city, before it was developed in the mid-nineteenth century! It is hard to realize just how small the city of Oxford was before that time, and how little development there was to the east of Magdalen Bridge.

William Tuckwell, in his "Reminiscences of Oxford" wrote about the Iffley Road of the 1830s, before development started: "It was said in those days that the approach to Oxford by the Henley [i.e.the Iffley] road was the most beautiful in the world. Soon after passing Littlemore you came in sight of, and did not lose again, the sweet city with its dreaming spires, driven along a road now crossed and obscured with dwellings, open then to cornfields on the right, to uninclosed meadows on the left, with an unbroken view of the long line of towers, rising out of foliage less high and veiling than after sixty more years of growth to-day. At once, without suburban interval, you entered the finest quarter of the town..." *

Historically, Oxfordshire has always had some importance, it has been valuable agricultural land resting between the main southern cities and containing the prestigious settlement at Oxford (from the Old English Oxenaforda). Ignored by the Romans it was not until the formation of a settlement at Oxford that the area grew in importance. Alfred the Great was born in Wantage. The university at Oxford was founded in 1096. The area was part of the Cotswolds wool trade from the 13th century. The Great Western Railway reached Didcot in 1839. Morris Motors was founded in Oxford in 1912 and MG in Abingdon in 1929. The importance of agriculture as an employer has declined rapidly in the 20th century; currently under 1% of the county's population are involved.

In 1808 the county had fourteen hundreds, namely Bampton, Banbury, Binfield, Bloxham, Bullingdon, Chadlington, Dorchester, Ewelme, Langtree, Lewknor, Pyrton, Ploughley, Thame and Wootton.

The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was based at the Barracks on Bullingdon Green, Cowley.

The Vale of the White Horse and parts of South Oxfordshire south of the River Thames were previously part of Berkshire and were added to the county in 1974. Conversely, the Caversham area of Reading has traditionally been part of Oxfordshire.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

* Oxfordshire-L OXFORDSHIRE-admin@rootsweb.com.To subscribe: OXFORDSHIRE-L-request@rootsweb.com with subscribe in message subject.

Last changed: 2711/2006, 15:45:00