Woodstock information

Woodstock is a small town in Oxfordshire, England. It is located 13 km / 8 miles northwest of Oxford, 18.5 km / 11.5 miles southeast of Chipping Norton and 73 miles W.N.W. of London.
The Princess Elizabeth was famously kept a prisoner here, in the gatehouse of Woodstock Manor (the manor itself being too dilapidated to house her).
The town is well known as the site of Blenheim Palace - a UNESCO World Heritage Site - where Winston Churchill was born in 1874, and the grave of Churchill in nearby Bladon.
The name Woodstock is Anglo Saxon in origin. At that time, English kings would log in the area of Woodstock whose name stands for a clearing in the woods.
The little river Glyme, in a steep and picturesque valley, divides the town into New and Old Woodstock.
The Domesday Book describes Woodstock (Wodestock, Wodestok, Wodestole) as a royal forest; it is said that King Alfred stayed at Woodstock in the year 890. Another famous resident was Ethelred the Unready, who is said to have held a council there. Henry I may have kept a menagerie in the park. Woodstock was the scene of King Henry II's courtship of Rosamund Clifford (Fair Rosamund). The market of the town was established when King Henry II gave Woodstock a Royal charter in 1179.
The town was altered greatly during the 17th century, when the Duke of Marlborough became a permanent resident. The local inn, the Bear, was capable of accommodating vast numbers of visitors and horses.
The parish church (dedicated to St Mary Magdalene) has a doorway of Norman origin. It features a musical clock which chimes every hour. The town hall of Woodstock was built in 1766 after the designs of Sir William Chambers, and there are a number of 17th century buildings in the centre. The almshouses were erected in 1798 by Caroline, duchess of Marlborough. Chaucer's House was once home to the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. (...) more....

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