A few miles beyond Northleach, Sherborne Park, the residence of Lord Sherborne, is passed on the left. It is a dignified house, situated in open country, many portions of which are well wooded.
From this point all the way to Witney the road falls steadily, with the shallow, but always pleasing, valley of the Windrush just below on the left. This pretty stream coming out of the heart of the Cotswolds is one of the chief feeders of the Thames, which it meets a dozen miles above Oxford. Actually on the road there are no villages except Little Minster between Northleach and Witney, but just below the highway, on the banks of the little river, there are several. The first three—Windrush and Great and Little Barrington—are in Gloucestershire, and the rest are in Oxfordshire. It is tempting to describe all these places, but one must be content with pointing out the particular charm of
BURFORD,
one of the most delightful of the old-world towns of the county. There is a town hall, probably of the fifteenth century, and adjoining it are some of the best of the old houses in the town. Close to the stream stands the splendid cruciform church, with its tower and west door dating back to the Norman period. In Early English times nearly the whole building appears to have been changed into the Gothic style, and another transformation took place in the fifteenth century, when the Perpendicular phase had set in. Owing to the Sylvester aisle and several chapels, the church is of curious shape, and this helps to give that indescribable atmosphere of pre-Reformation days entirely vanished from so many old churches in this country.
Both the school and the almshouses are old foundations, and the Priory, now a partial ruin, although preserving no ecclesiastical remains, is a picturesque Elizabethan building to some extent rebuilt in 1808.
A mile or two beyond Burford one passes Asthall Barrow on the right-hand side of the road, and only a few yards away across a field. It is a prehistoric mound of earth, now kept in position by a circular retaining wall of stone, thus preventing degradation. The trees surmounting it form a prominent landmark. About three miles farther on is the fine old manor-house of Minster Lovell, about a mile to the left, on the Windrush.
WITNEY
Soon after turning to the right the road enters the main street of picturesque old Witney at right angles. Extending away some distance to the right is the pleasant elongated belt of green, giving much charm and distinction to the place, and at the end of the grassy perspective, rising in stately dignity from old trees, appears the tower and spire of the cruciform church. This is one of those peculiarly fascinating buildings one finds it hard to leave. It is mainly an Early English church, but there are features of other periods, and among them a Decorated window on the north side, which is the finest in the whole county. The spire is an Early English masterpiece. In the middle of the little town stands the quaint Butter Cross, dated 1683. On the west side of the green is the Grammar School (1663), with an avenue of elms.
The blanket industry is still in existence, for in spite of modern competition the little place holds its own on account of some particular benefit the wool derives from the water of the neighbourhood.
EYNSHAM