Oxfordshire Is One Of The Uk's Oldest Counties

Oxfordshire county was created in the early 10th century and is widely located in the area between the Midlands to the north, the River Thames in the south, the Cotswolds to the west and the Chilterns to the east, with spurs running north to Banbury and south to Henley on Thames. Historically the area has always held the attention as it had a fertile agricultural land in the middle of the UK and a renowned university in the county city of Oxford.

The area was bypassed by the Romans, but as the formation of a settlement at Oxford in the 8th century that the area gained importance. An important personality, Alfred the Great was born near the Thames in Wantage in Berkshire. The University of Oxford was started in 1096 and its colleges were started later on.

The Cotswolds wool trade was started in the area in the 13th century, earning lots of revenue, especially in western side of the county, Oxfordshire Cotswolds. It was a rural county until 1912 when Morris Motors was established, along with it came heavy industry. In the 20th century the significance of agriculture as means of livelihood had declined rapidly, presently under one percent of the county's total population are still involved with it due to high mechanization.

During a major part of its history the county was separated into 14 hundreds, namely Bampton, Binfield, Bullingdon, Bloxham, Banbury, Chadlington, Dorchester, Ewelme, Lewknor, Langtree, Ploughley, Pyrton, Thame and Wootton. Situated at the Barracks on Bullingdon Green, Cowley was the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, the main army unit of the region. In 1974, county of Oxfordshire went through many boundary changes, Vale of the White Horse district and portions of the South Oxfordshire administrative district south of the River Thames were added to it and the parish of Stokenchurch was given to Buckinghamshire.

Many towns, cities and villages form the county of Oxfordshire. Some of the important places are , Banbury, Burford, Carterton, Chipping Norton, Bicester, Didcot, Henley on Thames, Abingdon, Woodstock, Thame, Charlbury, Watlington, Wantage, Wallingford, Faringdon and Oxford. Oxfordshire has a complete and extensive education system with 35 state schools and 23 independent schools. The state schools are allow students who belong to the ages of 11 to either 16 or 18. Eight schools do not possess a sixth form, these exist mostly in South Oxfordshire and Cherwell districts. The county has two universities, one is the most renowned and significant, the University of Oxford and also Oxford Brookes University, both of these are located in Oxford.