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an Oxford street

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Click on the pictures for more details
Wheatley	Holton	Forest Hill	Thornhill
Headington east	Headington west	Magdalen College	12 Woodstock Rd
243 Woodstock Rd	385 Woodstock Rd	Gosford/Water Eaton	Yarnton

The Stokenchurch Turnpike was set up in 1719, and the trust was responsible for the road from Stokenchurch through Oxford to Woodstock, except for the mileways in the city of Oxford, which were inluded in 1761/2.

The road originally took the Old London Road across Shotover. But in 1773 the Trustees of the Stokenchurch Turnpike resolved to apply to Parliament "for power to divert the Road, and entirely avoid Shotover Hill", and in 1788 sought "to impower the Trustees to compleat a Road from the Bottom of Cheney-Lane, upon Headington-Hill, to Forest-Hill..., to be used instead of the present Road up Cheney-Lane and Shotover-Hill".

Many milestones survive on this road, and there is an unbroken run of thirteen milestones, starting at Wheatley the east of Oxford (48 miles from London) and ending at Begbroke (60 miles from London). They were all originally positioned to suit the traveller coming from London and worded accordingly. Twelve of them are shown above.

The road was disturnpiked in 1878, and the toll-gates removed. The toll-houses/gates on this road included:

• Headington (on the south-east junction of Windmill Road and London Road). This toll-house was demolished c.1890 to make room for a new Co-op building
• The Plain, Oxford. This toll-house, which was on the site of the present Victoria Fountain, was built in 1771 and demolished in 1869. There were two gates, one across the road to Headington and the other on the road to the Cowley/Iffley Roads.
• Yarnton (the former Grapes inn)

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