FOREWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The cost of research for this volume was met largely by
Oxfordshire County Council,
and by the
Victoria History of Oxfordshire Trust,
whose support is gratefully acknowledged

SUBSTANTIAL RESEARCH towards this volume was undertaken between 1990 and 1995, but the bulk of the writing, and much supplementary research, was carried out between 1999 and 2003. Research costs throughout that period were met chiefly by Oxfordshire County Council, which, under arrangements described in the Editorial Note to Volume IX of the Oxfordshire History, continued to employ three VCH staff including a County Editor. All those staff belong to the Council's Department of Learning and Culture, formerly the Department of Leisure and Arts and (later) the Department of Cultural Services. An independent Victoria History of Oxfordshire Trust, under the chairmanship of Tom Hassall, OBE, and the presidency of Hugo Brunner, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, was launched in 1998 to raise additional funds for the Oxfordshire History, and from 1999 funded two additional posts. The University of London, for which the Victoria County History is published, records it thanks to both bodies for their generous support, and to the University of Oxford for accommodation and additional funds.

Mr Alan Crossley, Oxfordshire County Editor since 1966, retired in 1996; thereafter he generously completed his work on Curbridge, and kindly read and commented on the entire text in draft. He was succeeded in 1996 by Dr Simon Townley, Assistant Editor since 1987. Mr Christopher Day, Assistant Editor since 1975, took early retirement in 1996, having undertaken substantial preliminary work on Witney. Dr R.B. Peberdy joined the staff in 1996, and Dr Virginia Bainbridge and Dr Veronica Ortenberg in 1999; their research on neighbouring parishes is earmarked for future volumes.

The help of numerous institutions and individuals, who gave access to documents or buildings or offered information or advice, is gratefully acknowledged. Many are mentioned in the footnotes, the lists of illustrations and abbreviations, and the bibliography; special thanks, however, are due to the Oxfordshire County Archivist and his staff; the Oxfordshire County Library Service, particularly the staff of the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies; the staffs of the Bodleian Library, the National Archives (formerly the Public Record Office), the National Monuments Record, and the Department of Manuscripts of the British Library; the Archivists and staff of Berkshire and Hampshire Record Offices and of Southampton City Archives; His Grace the duke of Marlborough; the governing bodies and archivists of Corpus Christi, Magdalen, New, and University Colleges, Oxford; Mr T. G. Allen and his colleagues at Oxford Archaeology; Miss Jane Cavell; Mr J. B. Crawford; Mr S. C. Jenkins of Witney Museum; Canon R. E. Meredith; Mr D. Musson; Miss Beryl Schumer; and Mr T. Worley. The cost of the maps and illustrations was met by grants from the Greening Lamborn Trust and the Marc Fitch Fund, whose generous support is gratefully acknowledged.

Information on the structure and progress of the VCH as a whole is available on the VCH website (www.englandpast.net), and in the published General Introduction (1970) and Supplement (1990) to the series.

The death in August 2003 of Lady (Christina) Colvin, who had worked for the Oxfordshire VCH on a voluntary basis since 1953 and who undertook research on poor relief and religious nonconformity for this volume, is recorded with sadness.