Shotover

Shotover is a hill and forest in Oxfordshire, England.

Shotover Hill is 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Oxford. Its highest point is 557 feet (170 m) above sea level.

Early history

The toponym may be derived from the Old English scoet ofer, meaning "steep slope". Shotover was part of the Wychwood royal forest from around the period of the Domesday Book until 1660.

Shotover giant

A hill figure is recorded as having once been carved on the hill. Antiquarian John Aubrey writes:

Shotover Road

The road between London and Oxford used to pass over the top of Shotover Hill. The road was made into a turnpike under the 1719 Stokenchurch Turnpike Act.

Shotover House

Shotover House and garden were begun in about 1714 for James Tyrrell of Oakley. Tyrell died in 1718 and the house was completed by his son, General James Tyrell. There is no known record of the name of the architect. In 1855 the architect Joshua Sims added two wings in the same style of the original part of the house.

The garden was begun in 1718 and completed in 1730. It is a rare survivor of formal gardens of this period, laid out along an east–west axis 1,200 yards (1,100 m) long. The centrepiece of the garden east of the house is a straight canal, ending with a Gothic Revival folly. The architect of the folly is unknown, but if it was built before 1742 it may be one of the earliest examples of the Gothic Revival. The garden west of the house has a similarly long vista, ending with an octagonal temple designed in the 1730s by William Kent.

Shotover (horse)

Shotover (1879–1898) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. In a career that lasted from 1882 to 1884, she ran 15 times and won five races. As a three-year-old, racing against colts, she became the first filly to win the first two legs of the English Triple Crown: the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Derby at Epsom. She went on to win twice at Royal Ascot, but failed in her bid for the Triple Crown when she finished third in the St Leger at Doncaster. She was retired in 1884 and became a successful and influential broodmare. Shotover died in 1898.

Background

Shotover was a powerfully built chestnut filly with a white star, standing just under 15.3 hands high, who was praised for her "lean and game-looking" head and "beautifully formed" legs. She was bred by Henry Chaplin, who was best known for winning the Derby with Shotover’s sire Hermit in 1867. As a yearling, she was bought for 1,600 guineas by the trainer Robert Peck on behalf of the Duke of Westminster, the "richest man in England", who agreed to buy the filly after some hesitation. When Peck retired at the end of Shotover’s two-year-old season, the filly was moved to the stable of John Porter at Kingsclere.