Oxfordshire

**Oxfordshire**

Geography
Status	Ceremonial & Non-metropolitan county
Region:	South East England
Area - Total - Admin. council	Ranked 22nd 2,605 km² Ranked 19th
Admin HQ:	Oxford
ISO 3166-2:	GB-OXF
ONS code:	38
NUTS 3:	UKJ14
Demographics
Population - Total (2004 est.) - Density - Admin. Council	Ranked 35th 619,700 238 / km² Ranked 18th
Ethnicity:	95.1% White 1.7% S. Asian
Politics
Oxfordshire County Council
Executive	Conservative
Members of Parliament	Tony Baldry David Cameron Evan Harris Boris Johnson Andrew Smith Ed Vaizey
Districts
Oxford Cherwell South Oxfordshire Vale of White Horse West Oxfordshire The parties ruling the borough councils by 2005.

Oxfordshire (abbreviated Oxon, from the Latinised form Oxonia) is a county in south-east England, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire.

It is divided into five local government districts: Oxford, Cherwell, Vale of the White Horse (after the Uffington White Horse), West Oxfordshire and South Oxfordshire.

The county has a major tourism industry. The area is noted for the concentration of performance motorsport companies and facilities. Oxford University Press has headed a concentration of print and publishing firms; the university is also linked to the concentration of local biotechnology companies.

The main centre of population is the city of Oxford. Other significant settlements are Bicester, Banbury, and Chipping Norton to the north of Oxford; Witney to the west; Thame and Chinnor to the east; and Abingdon, Wantage, Didcot and Henley-on-Thames to the south. Future population growth in the county is hoped to be concentrated around Banbury, Bicester, Didcot and Witney, near the South Midlands growth area.

The highest point of the county is Whitehorse Hill, in the Vale of White Horse, reaching 856 feet (261m).

Oxfordshire's county flower is the Snake's-head Fritillary.

History

Historically the area has always had some importance, it has been valuable agricultural land resting between the main southern cities and containing the prestigious settlement at Oxford (whose name came from Anglo-Saxon Oxenaford = "ford for oxen"). Ignored by the Romans, it was not until the formation of a settlement at Oxford that the area grew in importance. Alfred the Great was born in Wantage. The University of Oxford was founded in 1096. The area was part of the Cotswolds wool trade from the 13th century. The Great Western Railway reached Didcot in 1839. Morris Motors was founded in Oxford in 1912 and MG in Abingdon in 1929. The importance of agriculture as an employer has declined rapidly in the 20th century; currently under one percent of the county's population are involved.

In 1808 the county had fourteen hundreds, namely Bampton, Banbury, Binfield, Bloxham, Bullingdon, Chadlington, Dorchester, Ewelme, Langtree, Lewknor, Pyrton, Ploughley, Thame and Wootton.

The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was based at the Barracks on Bullingdon Green, Cowley.

The Vale of the White Horse and parts of South Oxfordshire south of the River Thames are traditionally part of Berkshire but were added to the administrative county in 1974. Conversely, the Caversham area of Reading is traditionally part of Oxfordshire.

Towns and cities

Abingdon
Banbury
Bicester
Burford
Carterton
Chipping Norton
Didcot
Faringdon
Henley-on-Thames
Oxford
Thame
Wallingford
Wantage
Witney
Woodstock

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Oxfordshire at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.