EDITORIAL NOTE
The arrangements described in the Editorial Note to Volume IX of the History of
Oxfordshire have continued with only minor modifications, and the University of
London, for which the Victoria County History is published, again records its thanks
to the Oxfordshire County Council for the generosity with which it has met the costs
of compilation, aided by important contributions from the University of Oxford.
The General Introduction to the History, published in 1970, outlines the structure
and aims of the series as a whole. In Oxfordshire the work is under the supervision of
an Advisory Sub-Committee of the County Council's Libraries, Museums, and
Archives Committee; both the sub-committee and the parent committee have had as
chairman Mr. J. N. Banbury from 1974 until 1981 and thereafter Baron E. J. C. R.
von Maltzahn.
Although some parts of the volume were started in the 1960s, much the greater
proportion of the research and writing, together with a comprehensive revision of
what had been written earlier, was done in the years 1979, 1980, and 1981. The help
of many institutions and private persons who gave information or advice, or granted
access to their houses or to documents in their care, is acknowledged with gratitude.
In most instances they are mentioned in footnotes to the relevant passages, and
others are named in the preamble to the list of illustrations, but it is right to offer here
special thanks for wide-ranging help from Bodley's Librarian and the staff of the
Bodleian Library, the Oxfordshire County Archivist and her staff, the Librarian and
staff of Oxfordshire County Libraries, the Director and staff of Oxfordshire County
Museum Services, the Bishop and the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, the Dean and
Chapter of Windsor, the Church Commissioners, Birmingham Central Library,
Northamptonshire County Record Office, National Westminster Bank Ltd., the
governing bodies of Balliol, Brasenose, Christ Church, Corpus Christi, Exeter,
Magdalen, New, and St. John's Colleges, Oxford, the local history societies of
Tackley and Duns Tew, the Duke of Marlborough, Dr. Julian Barbour, Mr. T.
Cottrell-Dormer, Mrs. A. V. Fitt, Mr. M. J. Hallam, Mrs. L. Hichens, Miss E.
Hunter, Mr. J. M. Johnston, Mrs. Cynthia Laws, Sir Ashley Ponsonby, Mr. G.
Powell, the late Sir George Schuster, Mr. Geoffrey Stevenson, Col. A. D. Taylor,
Mr. J. Taylor, and Mr. E. W. Towler.