![]() ![]() Several fords, but there has been much speculation about which ford gave Oxford its In early times any approach to Oxford from south or west involved the use of Romans, but no major Roman road passed through Oxford. The route northwards towards Banbury may also have been metalled by the The modern Donnington Bridge to join the Roman road from Dorchester toĪlchester as it ran through an important pottery works at Cowley and Headington. The south, over Foxcombe Hill to South Hinksey, crossing the river near the site of Hurst Hill and Hen Wood to North Hinksey there was probably another branch to 6) In Roman times the route seems to have continued in use,Īnd was partially metalled: in Berkshire the Roman road running north-eastwardsįrom Wantage seems to have turned eastwards at Besselsleigh, passing between 5) before joining a ridgeway running northwards between the rivers The Thames perhaps at North Hinksey, where several prehistoric finds have been The site of Oxford along the watershed between the rivers Thames and Ock, crossing In prehistoric times the route from the south probably approached Would have been no need for such a crossing, since the river's course was generallyįrom east to west. The likelihood of an important east-west route crossing the riverĪt Oxford before the town grew up has been discounted, (fn. Near the site of Oxford, but the precise route and crossing point may have changed 3) From very early times an important north-south route crossed the Thames Point of the Thames, a ford suitable for oxen and presumably for the carts that theyĭrew. Oxford owes its name and perhaps its origin to its position at a major crossing 2) but there isĪrchaeological evidence of earlier settlement and a tradition of an early monastery 1) In fact Oxford was not recorded until 911 whenĮdward the Elder took control of the town and the area dependent on it, (fn. Most other accounts of Oxford's early history written before the laterġ9th century were aimed at proving that it was older than Cambridge, and were Prophet Samuel, and the origins of the university to a school established at Crickladeīy Greek philosophers who had accompanied the Trojan Brutus to Britain after theįall of Troy. In the 15th century the chronicler John RousĪscribed the town's foundation to a mythical king Mempric in the time of the ![]() When Geoffrey of Monmouth invented a Celtic name for the town and included itĪmong the cities of Arthur's Britain. Stories of the antiquity of Oxford have circulated since at least the 12th century ![]()
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