Section II of V
The Landscape
The Cherwell valley, the ironstone belt and the edge of the Cotswolds.
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Plate II·1The Ironstone Belt
The band of ferruginous limestone running through north Oxfordshire: how it was laid down, where it outcrops, and why it dictates the colour of every building above it.
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Plate II·2The Cherwell Valley
The river that organises the district — its course, its floodplain, and why the canal, the road and the railway all chose the same line.
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Plate II·3Hedges Are a Legal Document
The field pattern as a record of enclosure: what a straight hedge means, what a wavy one means, and how to read the date of a landscape from its boundaries.
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Plate II·4Where the Cotswolds Stop
The transition from Cotswold oolite to north Oxfordshire ironstone, visible in the buildings within a few miles, and why the boundary is geological rather than administrative.