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Cherwell is predominantly rural in character with varied countryside and it has, in different areas, downland, a limestone plateau and a wetland moor. The northern half of Cherwell consists mainly of soft rolling hills whilst the southern half of the district around Bicester is much flatter. The District of Cherwell is named after the river of the same name which flows through it from north to south. |
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The rolling downs in the north-west of Cherwell are ironstone and houses and cottages built using this stone glow with the beautiful golden colour of the stone. The downs are part of the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. To the east of the Cherwell Valley is the limestone plateau while the wetland moor is in clay Vale of Otmoor in the south. Otmoor (or Ot Moor) is a 400 acre area of wetland and wet grassland halfway between Oxford and Bicester. It is encircled by the "Seven Towns" of Otmoor: Beckley, Noke, Oddington, Charlton-on-Otmoor, Fencott, Murcott and Horton-cum-Studley. In 1920 the RAF acquired Otmoor for use as a bombing range and part of the moor still remains in military use as a rifle range. Since 1997 a large part of Otmoor has been made an RSPB nature reserve, with large areas of land being returned to marshland.
The River Cherwell flows through the district from north to south from close to Daventry, through Northamptonshire before passing into Oxfordshire for the remainder of its journey to join the Thames at Oxford. The river shares a corridor through Cherwell with the Oxford Canal until just north of Kidlington. The River Cherwell is the only river in the district of any size, although there are three main, but small, tributaries of the Cherwell, namely the rivers Sor, Swere and Ray. The River Sor rises north-west of Banbury in the Warwickshire Cotswolds and meets the River Cherwell near Adderbury. The River Swere rises from a spring north of Chipping Norton and also meets the River Cherwell near Adderbury. The third of these small rivers, the River Ray rises at Quainton Hill in Buckinghamshire, flows west through flat countryside for around 15 miles before flowing through Otmoor and finally joining the River Cherwell near Islip.
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Cherwell has two towns, Banbury in the north of the district and Bicester in the east, Banbury being the larger of the two. A third large urban area is Kidlington which is about 5 miles north of Oxford. Kidlington makes a proud claim to be Britain's largest village.
Alphabetical Listing:
A
B
Begbroke,
C
Charlton-on-Otmoor,
L
M
Murcott,
N
Noke,
O
Oddington,
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Yarnton,
Z
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