DEDDINGTON, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district in Woodstock district, Oxford. The town stands near the Cherwell river and the Oxford canal, 2¼ miles W of Aynho r. station, and 6 S of Banbury; has a post office‡ under Oxford, and three inns; is a seat of petty sessions and a polling-place; and publishes a monthly newspaper. It dates from the Saxon times; and sent two members to parliaments of Edward I. Remains of a beautiful groined crypt are beneath the Plough inn. A curious house, a tall, square, balustraded tower, is near the church; and vestiges of a large castle, of unknown antiquity, where Piers Gaveston, the favourite of Edward II., was seized for execution, are on the east. The church is later English, with a square tower; was, in great part, rebuilt in the time of Charles I., and repaired in 1859; and contains stone seats, a piscina, a female effigies, and some brasses. Several Roman coins, and quantities of Roman pottery were found in the neighbouring field of Blackingrove. There are chapels for Independents and Wesleyans, a national school, alms-houses with £73 from endowment, and other charities with £80. Markets were held till recently on Tuesdays; and fairs are held on 10 Aug., the Saturday after 11 Oct., and 22 Nov. Charles I. slept in the parsonage after the battle of Cropredy; and Sir Thomas Pope and Chief-Justice Scroggs were natives. -The parish includes also the hamlets of Clifton and Hempton. Acres, 3, 990. Real property, £11, 258. Pop., 2, 024. Houses, 457. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to the Chesnies, the Bassets, and the Mallets. There is a vitriolic salt spring. The living is a vicarage, united with the chapelries of Clifton and Hempton, in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £180.* Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Windsor. -The sub-district contains thirteen parishes. Acres, 22, 577. Pop., 6, 458. Houses, 1, 426.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))