Lew, Oxfordshire

Coordinates: 51°45′22″N 1°31′52″W / 51.756°N 1.531°W / 51.756; -1.531

Lew is a small village within the civil parish of Curbridge and Lew, located about 2.5 miles (4 km) southwest of Witney in West Oxfordshire.

History

Evidence of early human habitation in the parish includes a tumulus, probably Anglo-Saxon, on a 350 feet (110 m) high hill west of the village. The name of the village, recorded as Hlæwe in 984, means "tumulus" in Old English.

Until the 19th century Lew was a township in the parish of Bampton. It became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1857, known as Bampton Lew. The parish was united with Bampton in 1917, and since 1976 has formed part of the benefice of Bampton with Clanfield.

Lew was made a separate civil parish in 1866.

Parish church

The Church of England parish church of the Holy Trinity was designed in a 13th-century style by the architect William Wilkinson and built in 1841.

Natural history

The parish is a mix of arable land and pasture with small woodlands such as Lew Gorse. There are species of mammal in the area including roe deer, muntjac deer, badger, fox, hare and rabbit. Amongst bird species, the kestrel, common buzzard, barn owl, and tawny owl are the predominant predators. Other birds include greater spotted woodpecker, European green woodpecker, lapwing and goldfinch. Game birds include red-legged partridge, common pheasant and wood pigeon.

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire (/ˈɒksfərdʃər/ or /ˈɒksfərdʃɪər/; abbreviated Oxon) is a county in South East England bordering on Warwickshire (to the north/north-west), Northamptonshire (to the north/north-east), Buckinghamshire (to the east), Berkshire (to the south), Wiltshire (to the south-west) and Gloucestershire (to the west).

The county has major education and tourist industries and is noted for the concentration of performance motorsport companies and facilities. Oxford University Press is the largest firm among a concentration of print and publishing firms; the University of Oxford is also linked to the concentration of local biotechnology companies.

The main centre of population is the city of Oxford. Other significant settlements are Banbury, Bicester, Kidlington and Chipping Norton to the north of Oxford; Carterton and Witney to the west; Thame and Chinnor to the east; and Abingdon, Wantage, Didcot, Wallingford and Henley-on-Thames to the south.

The highest point is White Horse Hill, in the Vale of White Horse, reaching 261 metres (856 ft).

Oxfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Oxfordshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885. It was represented by two Members of Parliament. In 1832 this was increased to three Members of Parliament. The constituency was abolished in 1885, being split into three single member divisions.

The bitterly contested Oxfordshire election of 1754 was the main inspiration for Hogarth's famous series of paintings and engravings, The Election.

Boundaries

The constituency comprised the whole of the historic county of Oxfordshire, in the northern part of South East England. (Although Oxfordshire contained three parliamentary boroughs for part of this period – Oxford (from 1295), Woodstock (or New Woodstock) (1302–1555 and from 1571) and Banbury (from 1554) – each of which elected MPs in their own right, these were not excluded from the county constituency, and owning property within the borough could confer a vote at the county election. The Oxford University constituency was also often listed as an Oxfordshire constituency, but was non-territorial and had no effect on the right to vote in the county.)