Witney is a small market Town situated 11 miles west of Oxford. with a population of about 25,000 people. It is the administrative centre for the District of West Oxfordshire.
The town has a long history, it is recorded in the Doomsday book that in 1044 the Bishops of Winchester were granted an estate by Queen Emma. A Bishops Palace was built next to St Mary’s Church and the ruins of this Palace were excavated as recently as 1984 revealing extensive walls.
Witney is famous worldwide for ‘Witney Blankets’. The main producer of these was Charles Early and Company, which started making woollen blankets in 1669, although Blanket making was first recorded here as early as the 12th Century. Many Blankets were exported to the Hudson Bay Company in North America where they were traded for Furs and Skins with the Indians. So it was that Early’s claimed that the Indians wore Witney Blankets, and used this in some of their advertising.
The manufacture of blankets was by far the main industry in the town and this situation prevailed until the early 1970′s as blanket making rapidly declined in importance. Production in the last remaining mill finally ending in July 2002. Since then a number of medium and small sized industries have grown up in the area The photograph (below) shows one of the best known features of Witney – the Buttercross. This is built on 13 stone pillars, the middle one is older than the others and is raised on steps. This central pillar is probably what remains of the original market cross. The Buttercross is situated in the Market Place at the top of the town, the clock on the Buttercross was given by William Blake in 1683.
Opposite the Buttercross is Witney Town Hall, built in the 17th century, it has a large upper room for meetings and beneath its open arches, merchants from the surrounding countryside gathered to sell their sacks of grain.
The Marlborough Hotel – where the Rotary Club of Witney meet each Monday lunchtime – was a well-known coaching inn. It is a reminder that John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough and his descendents own Blenheim Palace, built at Woodstock – just 7 miles to the east of Witney. The Palace was given to John Churchill by Queen Anne, on behalf of the nation, in celebration of his victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704.