Untitled - Council for British Archaeology

The Old Forge in Church Street (PRN.11,823), not shown in 1881, still
stands.
Transport features : The main road through the village was part
of the Banbury, Chipping Norton and Burford
Turnpike (PRN. 8970). A turnpike tollhouse S.
of the village (PRN. 10,234) has now gone, but a milestone at.the
N.end (PRN. 10,067) still retains its iron plate. The Banbury &
Cheltenham line (PRN. 8992) of the G.W.R. opened in 1887 ran through
Bloxham, and the village had a railway. station (PRN. 1162).
The station was closed for passenger traffic in 1950 and the line
finally abandoned in 1964. The Station buildings are, now demolished
and the whole area is being redeveloped for housing. One new pub was
opened during the construction of the railway, the Railway Tavern in
Queen's Street (PRN. 11,837), now a private house still known by
the nickname.given to it by the navvies, the Drum & Monkey.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTENTIAL .-
The full extent of the two Romano-British settlements closest to the
present village on the N. and W. sides (PRN's 9948 and 1712/4984) remains
quite unknown, and it is possible that the fringes of the present
settlement may have partly encroached over either or both.. The
historical link between the several Romano-British settlements. in the
parish and the single medieval village, and the location of the
early Saxon settlement or settlements, represents one of the main unsolved
problems in the local historical topography. The first extent of the
early medieval village may be guessed from the position of the church
and the ring of perimeter lanes discussed above. The modern village
lies on top of the medieval settlement, and has not contracted
within its medieval bounds, therefore no extensive area of abandoned
medieval crofts or house sites is available for study.
There may be some archaeological potential within gardens and open
spaces in the village, but (a) such plots are rarely likely to be
available for excavation, (h) even when availability occurs, this may
be difficult to forecast far enough in advance to organise any action,
and (c) all such areas may be expected to contain considerable postmedieval
disturbance.
LEGISLATIVE PROTECTION
There are no Scheduled Ancient Monuments in the parish.
Most of the more important buildings in the village are now Listed as
being of Architectural or Historic Importance under Section 54 of the
1971 Town and Country Planning Act. The church.is Grade A. There
are no Grade I buildings. 26 buildings are listed as Grade II, and
there are a further 24 on the Supplementary List.
The village centre was designated in 1975 as' a Conservation Area
under the 1971 Town and Country Planning Act.
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