Taston

DistrictShire countyRegionCountryEnglandSovereign stateUnited KingdomPost townChipping NortonPostcode districtOX7Dialling code01608PoliceThames ValleyFireOxfordshireAmbulanceSouth Central UK ParliamentWebsiteSpelsbury Parish Council 51°54′14″N 1°28′26″W / 51.904°N 1.474°W / 51.904; -1.474

Taston is a hamlet in Spelsbury civil parish, about 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north of Charlbury and 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.

Name

Name history

Survey of English Place-Names: ^[1]

• Thorstan 1278–9.^[1]
• Thorstane 1316.^[1]
• Torstone 1492.^[1]
• Taston 1608–9.^[1]

The original Old Danish name^[a] might have been:

• Þórr steinn.^{[b] [c]}

Toponym ( Thorstan )

The name element Thor is a reference to the Norse God Thor.^{[d] [e]} The name element stan is from Old English stān ( " stone " ).^[f]

The toponym might be:

• Thor stone.
• Thor's stone.

Thor Stone

The Thor Stone is a monolithic standing stone that stands about seven-foot tall in the centre of Taston. ^{[g] [h]} It is a menhir, meaning that it was man handled there by humans. A local myth maintains that the stone portrays the image of a thunderbolt, and that it was created by a thunderbolt from Thor himself. ^{[i] [4]} The Thor Stone is a scheduled monument.^[5]

The Norse God Thor was one of the most powerful of the many Norse Gods who featured in Norse mythology. ^{[j] [k]} According to Norse mythology, Thor was the son of the Norse god Óðinn and the Norse goddess Jörð.^{[l] [m]}

It may be possible that the Danish people who settled in Oxfordshire during the Viking Age ^[n] continued to follow the traditions and beliefs that were customary in their Scandinavian homeland. Stories from Norse mythology were retold and passed down from generation to generation. ^{[o] [p]}

Given the Anglo-Saxons settled this area more extensively than the Norse, the derivation is more likely come from them. Before being Christianised, the Anglo-Saxons worshipped a pantheon of gods very similar to the Norse deities, including a thunder god named Thunor.

Natural England maps

Maps showing Access, Designations and other criteria from Natural England: ^[q]

• MAGiC MaP : Taston – Scheduled Monuments.^[8]

• MAGiC MaP : Taston – Listed Buildings.^[9]

• MAGiC MaP : Taston – Grims Ditch.^[10]

• MAGiC MaP : Taston – Monuments – Spelsbury Parish boundary.^[11]

Listed buildings

List Entry table

List Entry	Category	Short description
1251432[12]	Grade II*	CROSS. Medieval.[r]
1262715[13]	Grade II	MIDDLE FARMHOUSE. C17 and early C18
1251433[14]	Grade II	BARN. Early C18 and 1884
1262714[15]	Grade II	THE FIRKINS, Small house. early C18
1262769[16]	Grade II	MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN. 1862

Medieval village cross

At the centre of Taston are the base and broken shaft of a Medieval preaching cross.^[17] It is a Grade II* listed building.^[12]

Middle farmhouse and barn

Middle Farmhouse is a house built of coursed rubble in the 17th and early 18th centuries.^[13] Part of the roof is of Stonesfield slate. The farmstead has a four-bay barn that was built of stone early in the 18th century and altered in 1884.^[14]

The Firkins

The Firkins is a small house near Thorsbrook Spring. It is built of rubble and probably dates from early in the 18th century.^[15]

Memorial fountain

At Thorsbrook Spring, about 140 yards (130 m) southeast of the preaching cross, is a Victorian Gothic Revival memorial fountain. It was built in 1862 in memory of Henrietta, Viscountess Dillon,^[16] wife of Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon.

History

Danish Vikings

The Danish Viking warlord Guthrum based his army at Cirencester for about a year following his defeat at the Battle of Edington. ^{[s] [t]} In 879 Guthrum moved his large army from Cirencester to East Anglia, as had been agreed in the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum.

Taston is about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the Akeman Street Roman road, which connected Cirencester directly with Alchester (Roman town) near Bicester. Alchester was a strategic location with connecting routes north and south:

• The route north connected with Watling Street at Lactodurum (Towcester).^[u]

• The route south connected with the River Thames at Dorchester on Thames.^[v]

It would be expected that Guthrum's army used Akeman Street to travel from Cirencester to East Anglia. ^[x] It is possible that not all of Guthrum's army recruits continued all of the way to East Anglia. There is a cluster of Danish and Old Norse place names to the north of Akeman Street.^[y] Oxfordshire became increasingly populated by Danes of Viking Age origin as waves of migrants crossed the North sea and followed the River Thames inland to Oxford.^[z]

Local place names

Place name table

There is a cluster of Old Danish and Old Norse place names near Taston:

Distance[aa]	Direction	Place name	Danish Old Norse
		Taston near Enstone, Oxfordshire.	Norse god Thor
1.5 miles (2.4 km)	south east	Grim's Ditch.	Norse god Odin.[ab]
1.5 miles (2.4 km)	north east	Hoar Stone (tumulus) near Enstone.	Old Norse haugr ( " tumulus " )
1.5 miles (2.4 km)	north west	Hawk Stone.	Old Norse haugr
6 miles (9.7 km)	north east	Hoar Stone near Barton Abbey.	Old Norse haugr
8 miles (13 km)	north east	Dane Hill near Duns Tew.[19]	Dane Hill
12 miles (19 km)	south east	Seacourt near the City of Oxford.	Old Norse sef ( " sedge, rush " )

Grim's Ditch

Taston is very close to a series of defensive earthwork's known as Grim's Ditch around Ditchley Park. The earthwork's extend south as far as Akeman Street Roman road and were probably built or re-used by the Roman army to resist attack from the Dobunni.^[ac] The North Oxfordshire Grim's Ditch is one of many earthwork's of a similar name in the south and east of England. The reason why they are all called " Grim's Ditch " is not known, since they are believed to have different origins. The name " Grim " was a common Old Danish personal-name during the Viking Age.^[20] The name was associated with the Norse god Óðinn, known as Wōden to the Anglo Saxons.^{[ad] [ae]}

Dane Hill

Dane Hill is a small hamlet on the A4260 road from Oxford to Banbury.^[19] The hamlet might mark the most westerly extent of Danish controlled territory into Oxfordshire, following the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum.

A 19th century map shows how territory was divided between the Anglo Saxons (Pink) and the Danes (Blue):^[af]

• Wantage – Kingdom of Wessex – Alfred the Great (Pink).
• Warwick – English Mercia – Ceolwulf II of Mercia (Pink).
• Oxford – Wessex and Mercia (Pink).^[ag]
• Buckingham – Kingdom of Guthrum (Blue).^[ah]
• Northampton – Danish Mercia (Blue).^{[ai] [aj]}

The Anglo Saxons later gained territory from the Danes, and Buckingham became a Mercian burh, one of a network of fortified burhs created to defend Mercia and Wessex against the Danes.^[ak]

References

Notes

Citations

Sources

• Burnham, Andy (2018). The Old Stones. Watkins Media Limited. ISBN 9781786781543.
• Williams, Gareth; Naylor, John (2016). King Alfreds Coins, The Watlington Viking Hoard. Ashmolean museum, University of Oxford. ISBN 978-1-910807-13-2.
• Oliver, Neil (2012). Vikings; A History. Phoenix. ISBN 978-1-7802-2282-0.
• Crossley, Alan; Elrington, C R, eds. (1979). 'Medieval Oxford', A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 4. British History Online. pp. 3–73. Retrieved 2 June 2023.

External links

• Megalithic Portal Map Search – Thor Stone The Megalithic Portal

• The Modern Antiquarian – Thor Stone The Modern Antiquarian