Shotover is a hill and forest in the civil parish of Forest Hill with Shotover, in the South Oxfordshire district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. The hill is east of Oxford. Its highest point is above sea level.

Early history

The toponym may be derived from the Old English , meaning "steep slope". Shotover was part of the Wychwood royal forest from around the period of the Domesday Book until 1660. It was also known as the Forest of Shotover.

A hill figure is recorded as having once been carved on the hill. Antiquarian John Aubrey writes:

:"On Shotover Hill [near Oxford] was heretofore (not long before the Civil Wars, in the memory of man) the effigies of a Giant cut in the earth, as the White Horse by Ashbury Park"

Shotover was formerly an extra-parochial tract, in 1858 Shotover became a separate civil parish, on 25 March 1883 the parish was abolished and merged with Forest Hill. In 1851 it had a population of 163.

Shotover Road

The road between London and Oxford used to pass over the top of Shotover Hill. The road was made into a turnpike under the 1719 Stokenchurch Turnpike Act.

Shotover Park

Shotover Park and garden were begun in about 1714 for James Tyrrell of Oakley. Tyrell died in 1718 and the house was completed by his son, General James Tyrell. There is no known record of the name of the architect. In 1855 the architect Joshua Sims added two wings in the same style of the original part of the house.

"Shotover Hill" is a track on the album Supergrass by the Oxford indie band of the same name.

References

Sources and further reading

  • Shotover Hill and Country Park
  • Shotover Wildlife