OAKLEY, a tything in Cirencester parish, Gloucester; adjoining Cirencester town. Oakley House is the seat of Earl Bathurst; was built by Henry Earl of Danby, and purchased by Allen, first Earl Bathurst; contains a number of interesting portraits; stands in a very fine park, generally accessible to the public; and is approached by an avenue 150 feet wide and 5 miles long, flanked on the N by a plantation of forest-trees, and on the S by a deer park. The grounds contain a barrowcalled Grismond's tower, an old market cross of Cirencester, a wood-house planned by Pope, a modern edifice called Alfred's hall, and some fine scenery.

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