Taston

Taston is a hamlet in Spelsbury civil parish, about 1.6 mi north of Charlbury and 4 mi southeast of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.

Name history
Survey of English Place-Names:


 * Thorstan 1278–9.
 * Thorstane 1316.
 * Torstone 1492.
 * Taston 1608–9.

The original Old Danish name might have been:
 * Þórr steinn.

Toponym ( Thorstan )
The name element Thor is a reference to the Norse God Thor. The name element stan is from Old English stān ( " stone " ).

The toponym might be:
 * Thor stone.
 * Thor's stone.

Thor Stone
The Thor Stone is a monolithic standing stone that stands about seven-foot tall in the centre of Taston.

It is a menhir, meaning that it was man handled there by humans. A local myth maintains that the stone portrays the image of a thunderbolt, and that it was created by a thunderbolt from Thor himself. The Thor Stone is a scheduled monument.

The Norse God Thor was one of the most powerful of the many Norse Gods who featured in Norse mythology.

According to Norse mythology, Thor was the son of the Norse god Óðinn and the Norse goddess Jörð.

It may be possible that the Danish people who settled in Oxfordshire during the Viking Age continued to follow the traditions and beliefs that were customary in their Scandinavian homeland. Stories from Norse mythology were retold and passed down from generation to generation.

Given the Anglo-Saxons settled this area more extensively than the Norse, the derivation is more likely come from them. Before being Christianised, the Anglo-Saxons worshipped a pantheon of gods very similar to the Norse deities, including a thunder god named Thunor.

Natural England maps
Maps showing Access, Designations and other criteria from Natural England:


 * MAGiC MaP : Taston – Scheduled Monuments.


 * MAGiC MaP : Taston – Listed Buildings.


 * MAGiC MaP : Taston – Grims Ditch.


 * MAGiC MaP : Taston – Monuments – Spelsbury Parish boundary.

Medieval village cross
At the centre of Taston are the base and broken shaft of a Medieval preaching cross. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Middle farmhouse and barn
Middle Farmhouse is a house built of coursed rubble in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Part of the roof is of Stonesfield slate. The farmstead has a four-bay barn that was built of stone early in the 18th century and altered in 1884.

The Firkins
The Firkins is a small house near Thorsbrook Spring. It is built of rubble and probably dates from early in the 18th century.

Memorial fountain
At Thorsbrook Spring, about 140 yd southeast of the preaching cross, is a Victorian Gothic Revival memorial fountain. It was built in 1862 in memory of Henrietta, Viscountess Dillon, wife of Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon.

Danish Vikings
The Danish Viking warlord Guthrum based his army at Cirencester for about a year following his defeat at the Battle of Edington.

In 879 Guthrum moved his large army from Cirencester to East Anglia, as had been agreed in the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum.

Taston is about 3 mi north of the Akeman Street Roman road, which connected Cirencester directly with Alchester (Roman town) near Bicester. Alchester was a strategic location with connecting routes north and south:


 * The route north connected with Watling Street at Lactodurum (Towcester).


 * The route south connected with the River Thames at Dorchester on Thames.

It would be expected that Guthrum's army used Akeman Street to travel from Cirencester to East Anglia.

It is possible that not all of Guthrum's army recruits continued all of the way to East Anglia. There is a cluster of Danish and Old Norse place names to the north of Akeman Street. Oxfordshire became increasingly populated by Danes of Viking Age origin as waves of migrants crossed the North sea and followed the River Thames inland to Oxford.

Place name table
There is a cluster of Old Danish and Old Norse place names near Taston:

Grim's Ditch
Taston is very close to a series of defensive earthwork's known as Grim's Ditch around Ditchley Park. The earthwork's extend south as far as Akeman Street Roman road and were probably built or re-used by the Roman army to resist attack from the Dobunni. The North Oxfordshire Grim's Ditch is one of many earthwork's of a similar name in the south and east of England. The reason why they are all called " Grim's Ditch " is not known, since they are believed to have different origins. The name " Grim " was a common Old Danish personal-name during the Viking Age. The name was associated with the Norse god Óðinn, known as Wōden to the Anglo Saxons.

Dane Hill
Dane Hill is a small hamlet on the A4260 road from Oxford to Banbury. The hamlet might mark the most westerly extent of Danish controlled territory into Oxfordshire, following the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum.

A 19th century map shows how territory was divided between the Anglo Saxons (Pink) and the Danes (Blue):


 * Wantage – Kingdom of Wessex – Alfred the Great (Pink).
 * Warwick – English Mercia – Ceolwulf II of Mercia (Pink).
 * Oxford – Wessex and Mercia (Pink).
 * Buckingham – Kingdom of Guthrum (Blue).
 * Northampton – Danish Mercia (Blue).

The Anglo Saxons later gained territory from the Danes, and Buckingham became a Mercian burh, one of a network of fortified burhs created to defend Mercia and Wessex against the Danes.