14 Sights in South Oxfordshire, United Kingdom (with Map and Images)
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Welcome to your journey through the most beautiful sights in South Oxfordshire, United Kingdom! Whether you want to discover the city's historical treasures or experience its modern highlights, you'll find everything your heart desires here. Be inspired by our selection and plan your unforgettable adventure in South Oxfordshire. Dive into the diversity of this fascinating city and discover everything it has to offer.
1. Shirburn Castle
Shirburn Castle is a Grade I listed, moated castle located at the village of Shirburn, near Watlington, Oxfordshire. Originally constructed in the fourteenth century, it was renovated and remodelled in the Georgian era by Thomas Parker, the first Earl of Macclesfield who made it his family seat, and altered further in the early nineteenth century. The Earls of Macclesfield remained in residence until 2004, and the castle is still (2022) owned by the Macclesfield family company. It formerly contained an important, early eighteenth century library which, along with valuable paintings, sculptures, and other artifacts including furniture, remained in the ownership of the 9th Earl and were largely dispersed at auction following his departure from the property; notable among these items were George Stubbs's 1768 painting "Brood Mares and Foals", a record setter for the artist at auction in 2010, the Macclesfield Psalter, numerous rare and valuable books, and personal correspondence of Sir Isaac Newton.
2. Friar Park
Friar Park is a Victorian neo-Gothic mansion in Henley-on-Thames, England, construction began in 1889 and was completed in 1895. It was built for lawyer Sir Frank Crisp, and purchased in January 1970 by English rock musician and former Beatle George Harrison. The site covers about 30 acres, and features caves, grottoes, underground passages, a multitude of garden gnomes, and an Alpine rock garden with a scale model of the Matterhorn.
3. Wallingford Castle
Wallingford Castle is a medieval castle situated in Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire, adjacent to the River Thames. Established in the 11th century as a motte-and-bailey design within an Anglo-Saxon burgh, it grew to become what historian Nicholas Brooks has described as "one of the most powerful royal castles of the 12th and 13th centuries". Held for the Empress Matilda during the civil war years of the Anarchy, it survived multiple sieges and was never taken. Over the next two centuries it became a luxurious castle, used by royalty and their immediate family. After being abandoned as a royal residence by Henry VIII, the castle fell into decline. Refortified during the English Civil War, it was eventually slighted, i.e. deliberately destroyed, after being captured by Parliamentary forces after a long siege. The site was subsequently left relatively undeveloped, and the limited remains of the castle walls and the considerable earthworks are now open to the public.
4. Mapledurham Mill
Mapledurham Watermill is a historic watermill in the civil parish of Mapledurham in the English county of Oxfordshire. It is driven by the head of water created by Mapledurham Lock and Weir, on the River Thames. The mill was built in the 15th century, and further extended in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. It is a Grade II* listed building and is preserved in an operational state.
5. Dorchester Abbey
The Abbey Church of St Peter and St Paul, more usually called Dorchester Abbey, is a Church of England parish church in Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Oxford. It was formerly a Norman abbey church and was built on the site of a Saxon cathedral.
6. Stonor Park
Stonor Park is a historic country house and private deer park situated in a valley in the Chiltern Hills at Stonor, about four miles (6.4 km) north of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, England, close to the county boundary with Buckinghamshire.
7. Pendon Museum
Pendon Museum, located in Long Wittenham near Didcot, Oxfordshire, England, is a museum that displays scale models, in particular a large scene representing parts of the Vale of White Horse in the 1920s and 1930s. The scene, under construction since the 1950s and with parts dating back earlier, was inspired by detailed research into the architecture and landscape of the vale, with some models of cottages taking hundreds of hours to complete. The late Roye England, an anglophile Australian who lived in England, founded it, and run jointly by the late English Model Maker, Guy Williams, who made fifty-seven of the museum's ninety locomotives.
8. St Peter & St Paul
St Peter and St Paul is the Church of England parish church of Checkendon, a village in Oxfordshire, England. Its parish is part of the Deanery of Henley in the Diocese of Oxford. Its earliest parts are 12th-century and it is a Grade I listed building.
9. Clifton Hampden Bridge
Clifton Hampden Bridge is a road bridge crossing the River Thames in Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire, England, situated on the reach below Clifton Lock. Originally it joined Oxfordshire on the north bank with Berkshire on the south but in 1974 the area on the south bank was transferred from Berkshire to Oxfordshire. It is a Grade II* listed building.
10. Walliingford Museum
Wallingford Museum is a museum with collections of local interest in the town of Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire. The museum has an extensive collection relating to the town's history. Displays include archaeology, Wallingford Castle, and the town in medieval and Victorian times. A free audio tour is available.
11. Bishop Edward King Chapel
Bishop Edward King Chapel is the chapel of Ripon College Cuddesdon, a Church of England theological college near Oxford, and of the Sisters of the Communities of St John Baptist and the Good Shepherd, a community of Anglican nuns.
12. St John the Baptist
St John the Baptist's Church is a closed, redundant Anglican church, partly in ruins, in what has thus reverted to the hamlet of Mongewell, Oxfordshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The ruins stand on the east bank of the River Thames, next to the former Carmel College, to the north of Mongewell Park, 2.5 miles (4 km) south of Wallingford, and near The Ridgeway long-distance path. Local Anglicans are in the parish of North Stoke: St Mary the Virgin.
13. Saint Peters
St Peter's Church is a redundant Anglican church in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands at the east side of the town, overlooking the River Thames.
14. Saint Mary
St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church in the hamlet of Newnham Murren, Oxfordshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands at the end of a farm track, overlooking the River Thames, near The Ridgeway long-distance path.
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Disclaimer Please be aware of your surroundings and do not enter private property. We are not liable for any damages that occur during the tours.