Essential Hotels > England > Oxfordshire > Woodstock

The Royal demesne of Woodstock was from Saxon to Tudor times the site of a great country manor that served as a great playground for royalty. Woodstock is a market town with a great number of very old and attractive stone houses. Tradition has it that the famous Bear Inn dates from 1237 and so it would seem that this is a particularly historic setting. The county museum explains local history and along Harrison’s Lane the Leather Glove workshops welcome visitors throughout the year.

One of the main attractions of Woodstock is Blenheim Palace, richly furnished and containing many art treasures, which stands adjacent to Woodstock, in a large park which is always open to pedestrians. Vanbrugh designed the building in 1707 for John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and part of the cost was defrayed by parliament in recognition of his victory over the French at Blenheim. Capability Brown landscaped the park, and he planted trees in groups to represent the Battle of Blenheim and formed a lake from the waters of the river Glyn; a column was erected in honour of the great Duke. In 1874 another famous member of the royal family, Sir Winston Churchill, was born here.

The small town of Woodstock is situated to the north of Oxford in Oxfordshire and was once an important coaching stop on the road towards the north. In its centre there is a market place with a town hall while there are also plenty of lovely buildings such as the Church of St Mary Magdalene and Cromwell’s House, the latter of which is not open to the public. Also in the town is Chaucer’s Cottage and Lane and the Oxfordshire Museum and Tea Room, and the former of these is also a private residence that isn’t open to the public.

The name Woodstock is thought to derive from a clearing in the woods, and in the Domesday Book of the 11th century it was referred to as a royal forest. By 1179 Woodstock had received a royal charter while under King Henry II that established a market. In later years Woodstock Palace was constructed, proving popular with kings, although this was destroyed during the English Civil War. From the 16th century onwards prosperity came with the glove manufacturing industry while nowadays tourism forms the focus of the town’s local economy.