Woodstock

Extract from Discovering Wychwood by Charles Keighley

A bustling country town on the A44, 12 km (8 miles) north-west of Oxford. On the Wychwood Way. Saxon kings are reputed to have had hunting lodges in the area. Henry I enclosed the first park at Woodstock and Henry II expanded this into a full scale royal palace. Open wood pasture from this park is still partly preserved around High Lodge and Combe Gate.

By the 16th century the palace was falling into decay and in 1705 the manor of Woodstock was conferred on John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, for services to his country in the wars against France. His architect Vanbrugh built the magnificent Blenheim Palace between 1705 and 1717 and Capability Brown redesigned the grounds c.1764-74.

• Woodstock has many shops, restaurants, pubs and hotels.
• The Oxfordshire County Museum and Visitor Information Centre are based in Fletcher's House, Park Street, tel. 01993 11038.
• The landscape of this undulating parish is dominated by the town and Blenheim Park, cut by the River Glyme.
• The marshy habitats of the Glyme valley have a wide flora and are noted for their bird interest.

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