Charlbury was probably first settled in early Anglo-Saxon times. Its name suggests a fortification, from the word Burh, and the name of a local bigwig, probably Ceorl. It’s certain there was scattered occupation of the area at the time of the Romans and even earlier, but the first proper settlement seems to have been Saxon. Most of the grander houses in the town however date from, or were extensively rebuilt in, the 18th century. It looks as though the early town was a simple village of small, rubble built cottages.

The town lies on the Eastern bank of the river Evenlode, a river we have mentioned often. Not least as an obstacle to the armies in the civil war. It’s another of these shallow clear streams fed by springs higher in the hills and it flows east to join the Thames near Wolvercote.

Pre reformation the Abbey of Eynsham ruled supreme here and subsequently, after the reign of Henry the 8th, the families of Lee at Ditchley 2 miles to the north took over the manor for two hundred years, leading, amidst a tangled tale of widowhood, debauchery and bawdy verse to an association with the earl of Rochester, and finally into the hands of the Churchill family, later to become the Dukes of Marlborough. This is the family in whose domaine the town still lies, within the enormous Blenheim estate we have seen glimpses of in the past. The 21st century family are very far from absentee landlords and the recent development of the town reflects their proximity.