tomed to throw over the ashes of any eminent warrior, in order to prevent that contumelious scattering of his remains which they apprehended from barbarous tribes. The most remarkable of these, in the opinion of Dr. Plot,* is that termed Astal Barrow, which borders on the old Akeman-street, and which he conjectures to be the sepulchre of some eminent leader, on account of its unusual height and circumference. From the succeeding pages it will be found that the former neighbourhood of the Romans has been ascertained in almost every part of Oxfordshire, by the numerous urns and relics of funeral ceremony which have been dug up in different ages.

But the most pleasing vestige of the ancient "rulers of the world," is discoverable in the roads which they constructed, in contempt of treacherous moor or forbidding acclivity. No task could be too vast for their spirit of enterprize, or too mighty for their industry; and, in surveying these proofs of their judgment and laborious habits still partially preserved in this district, it is assuredly grateful to recollect that no intention of local warfare appears to have lent aid to the foundation of the object which we contemplate.

Only one of those four consular, or prætorian ways, which were constructed from sea to sea, two in length and two in breadth, of the whole island, passed through Oxfordshire, and that was the Ikeneild-street, which stretched itself, in regard to this county, from north-east to south-west. As this highway was not formed by casting up a paved ridge, or laid out by deep trenches, (as was often the usage of the Romans, both in regard to their major and minor roads,) it is less distinguishable than many; yet its track through the county may be pretty accurately developed, except as to the point at which it quitted Oxfordshire on the south-west, a circumstance of failure which has occasioned some difficulty to the decision of recent antiquaries. It may, however, be received as correct, that the Ikeneild way enters the county at the parish of Chinnor; thence proceeding at the base

Nat. Hist. p. 325.

base of the Chiltern hills, it leaves Lewknor, Shirburn, and Watlington, to the north-west. In the neighbourhood of Woodhouse-Farm it crosses the vallum, or ridged bank, called Grimes's Dyke, and, passing Ipsden, may be traced to an enclosure at the back of Grove Barn, about three miles distant from the village of Goring; after which no actual traces can be easily discovered; but Dr. Plot confidently affirms that it quitted Oxfordshire at the last-mentioned village; and, assuredly, the name of the hamlet immediately on the opposite bank (Streatley)+ would appear to bestow plausibility on the conclusion. It is observable that this great road, in its whole course through the country, does not enter any town or village, unless it may be supposed to have so done at Goring, on finally leaving Oxfordshire; for which reason, according to Plot, it was formerly " much used by stealers of cattle." The same writer observes, that the probable cause of the Romans not raising this road may be found in the circumstances of its situation, its course being uniformly on the firm fast soil afforded by the Chiltern elevations.

Of those vicinal ways which ran from one colony to an other, or from station to station, the principal in Oxfordshire is the Akeman-street, which appears to have been constructed in different parts of the county, either with or without a raised bank, as the nature of the soil, through which it passed in its progress,

At the foot of Stoken-Church hills there are, in the vicinage of Lewknor and Aston Rowant, two roads, called the Upper and the Lower Ikeneild ways. It was usual with the Roman officers to employ their men, during peaceful seasons, in striking out such near cuts as might shorten the highway tracks through the island. A circumstance of explanation, which, it is presumed, amply accounts for the double passage in the above district.

. ↑ After passing through Streatley, a road has been asserted by some to proceed in a direct line up the hills, pointing towards Silchester. It is traditionally recorded in the neighbourhood, that a Roman "mile stone" is still remaining among the thick underwood in that direction. For this the present writer searched with some industry; but it was well that he did not indulge much hope of success, for no such memorial was to be found.

Nat. Hist, 316.

progress, demanded. This road enters Oxfordshire from the neighbouring county of Buckingham, in the parish of Ambrosden. After ascending to Blackthorn-hill, it crosses Wretchwick Green, and proceeds, a little to the north of Gravenel (or Gravenhill,) Wood, and Alchester, to Chesterton: thence it leads to Kirtlington; and, passing the town-end and crossing the river Charwell near Tackley, enters Blenheim park, which it quits in a direction for the village of Stonesfield. Here, altering its form, though still (even traditionally) retaining its name, it goes over the river Evenlode, and passes near Wilcot and Ramsden; then to Astally and Astal, and through the fields (though scarcely distinguishable) to Broadwell Grove. At Broadwell Grove the outlines are more bold and perfect, and the road then proceeds nearly in a straight line for Gloucestershire.

From the main channel of Akeman-street several minor roads diverged. Two of these are traced near Kirtlington. One at the town's-end, of no long continuance, but which points upon the portway running east of Northbrook and Souldern. The other appears, by its direction, to have branched from the parent street nearer to the spot at which it crosses the river Charwell. There is, likewise, an outlet from the main road at the part now inclosed in Blenheim park, which points north-west towards Enston and Chipping-Norton. In addition to these branches of Akemanstreet, it must be observed, that a road crosses that street south of Bicester, and runs north and south through Alchester and Wendlebury meadow. It then goes over the dreary district termed Otmoor, where (as is observed by Plot) it has evidently been paved, passes Beckley park wall, and proceeds, to the left of Shotover-hill, for Sandford, where it crosses the Thames.

• Between Mongewell and Nuffield is a vallum, or high-ridged way, termed Grime's Dike, or more familiarly in the neighbourhood, Grime's, or Devil's, Ditch. This embankment is still

very high, though it is but single till it comes to the vicinity of Nuffield, where the banks are double, with a deep trench between. Dr. Plot conjectures that the part next Wallingford was

9

ence,

once, likewise, double banked, but that "the trench was filled up by one of the banks being thrown into it, upon the increase of agriculture. The trench, perhaps, was at first designed only to carry off the water, and the two banks on each side for the carriages which passed betwixt the stations." The Ikeneild Street crosses this embankment, or dike, near Woodhouse Farm.

TRACES OF THE BRITISH, SAXONS, DANES, &c.

Several British coins of a very curious description have been found, and there are some barrows which may be safely described as relics of the aboriginals. Marks of the bloody contests between the Saxon and Danish strugglers for supremacy are distinguishable in many parts of the county. Among the common order of the natives these are indiscriminately called barrows; but military intrenchments are in fact quite as frequent as funereal mounds. The most curious piece of antiquity in the county is the circle of high stones, termed Rowldrich, in the neighbourhood of Chippingnorton. As this interesting monument has excited considerable difference of opinion, it is merely noticed here as the work of one or other of the early nations. When it comes under local examination the chief arguments advanced by each party will be adduced; and, after a statement of the result of our own observation, it will remain with the reader to decide on the age and nation to which it probably refers.

GENERAL FEATURES AND CHARACTER OF COUNTRY, SOIL, &c. The county of Oxford possesses, in its southern districts, an alternation of hill and valley productive of many pleasing displaye

Plot. Nat. Hist. p. 317. In the same page the doctor says, From Tuffield I was told that Grime's dike held on its course through the thick woods, and passed the river below Henley, into Berkshire again; but the woods scarce admitting a foot passage, much less for a horse, I could not conveniently trace it any further." With these woods the present writer is tolerably well acquainted, but he never was able to discover any certain marks of continuation in the track described by Dr. Plot.

plays of pictorial scenery. The Chiltern elevations, partly clothed with rich mantles of beech, and sometimes arable to a height supposed unattainable by the midland husbandry of the early ages, abound in variety and grace of scene. If Oxfordshire, in its central division, lose in a great measure that inequality of surface so prolific of beauty, it can boast of its forest and woods, fraught with national benefit, and displaying at every rude turn a captivating, though circumscribed, grandeur of prospect. On the north, (and particularly on the western part of that district) stone fences supply the place of the thick-set hedges, decorated with a profusion of wild flowers, which form the boundaries of other inclosures; and the eye is often fatigued by a rude and frigid monotony of scene. But the rivers which flow through the county are the chief sources of its beauty. These, gliding through almost every district, call forth luxuriant vegetation in a thousand smiling meadows, and regale the traveller with a continual and enchanting change of prospect, whether they stretch over fertile champaign, or break from woody insterstice.

The difference observable in natural feature is necessarily productive of some variety in climate. In general the air is supposed to be healthy and bracing. From a want of umbrageous fences the northern parts are chill for the greater part of the year, and unpleasantly warm in the summer months. It is remarked, that the frost always takes effect sooner, and lasts longer, on the chalky lands at the base of the Chiltern hills than in any other part of the neighbourhood; and, in tepid seasons, the climate of the Chiltern country is usually moist, since fogs are more frequent among the woods and hills than in the vale.

Oxfordshire contains three strongly marked distinctions of soil, which are thus classed by Mr. Young, in his Agricultural Survey: :-the red-land, the stonebrash, and the chiltern. The redland, consisting of 79,635 acres, is found in the northern division, and much exceeds the others in fertility. "It is deep, sound, friable, yet capable of tenacity, and adapted to every plant that can be trusted to it by the industry of the cultivators." The stonebrash prevails