Charlbury (/ˈtʃɑːlb(ə)ˌɹi/, /ˈtʃɔːl-/, or /ˈtʃɔw-/, in the IPA) is a small northwest Oxfordshire town bordering the Cotswolds, England on a hillside overlooking the Evenlode river and the Wychwood forest. Articles with similar titles include the NATO phonetic alphabet, which has also informally been called the “International Phonetic Alphabet”. For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words, see IPA chart for English. ... Oxfordshire (abbreviated Oxon, from the Latinised form Oxonia) is a county in the South East of England, bordering on Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, and Warwickshire. ... The Cotswolds is the name given to a range of hills in central England, sometimes called the Heart of England, a hilly area reaching over 300 m or 1000 feet. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... The Evenlode is a small river joining the Thames 5 km north-west of Oxford. ... The Wychwood, or Wychwood Forest, is an area now covering a small part of rural Oxfordshire. ...

Local buildings of note

Charlbury's parish church of St.Mary the Virgin is by tradition associated with Saint Diuma, the first Bishop of Mercia, though the present building is 17th Century in date. On the outskirts of Charlbury is Lee Place, the former Dower House of Ditchley and now the summer home of the Duke of Marlborough. Cornbury Park, now owned by Lord Rotherwick, contains a great 17th century house designed partly by architect Hugh May. The Kingdom of Mercia at its greatest extent (7th to 9th centuries) is shown in green, with the original core area (6th century) given a darker tint. ... The coat of arms of the Dukes of Marlborough The Dukedom of Marlborough (named after Marlborough, pronounced Maulbruh - in the IPA), is an hereditary title of British nobility in the Peerage of England. ... Hugh May (1621-1684) was an English architect. ...

It is served by Charlbury railway station, a Brunelian station in the town, with regular rail services south to Oxford and London among others, and north terminating at Hereford, Great Malvern and Worcester. Charlbury railway station serves the town of Charlbury in Oxfordshire, England. ... Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS (9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) (IPA: ), was a British engineer. ... This article is about the city of Oxford in England. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... For other uses, see Hereford (disambiguation). ... Great Malvern is a town in Worcestershire, England positioned at the foot of, and partly on the sides of, the Malvern Hills. ... This article is about the city of Worcester in England. ...

Name dispute

The origin of the town's name is a matter of some dispute, with some holding it to relate to the name 'Charles' and others to the Old English word ceorl (probably pronounced /tʃɔrl/) meaning "freeman of the lowest class", whence the Modern English words "churl" and "churlish" (which are now used only in a derogatory sense). For this reason some hold the latter two pronunciations more valid than the former, and the current spelling incorrect, preferring 'Chorlbury'. Interestingly both the name 'Charles' and the word 'ceorl'/'churl' derive from the same Proto-Germanic root word /ˈkarilaz/* thought to have originally meant 'old man', adding another twist to the dispute. Old English (also called Anglo-Penis[1], Englisc by its speakers) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. ... Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... A churl, in its earliest Anglo-Saxon meaning, was simply a man, but the word soon came to mean a non-servile peasant, still spelt ceorle, and denoting the lowest rank of freemen. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Annual events

There are a number of annual traditional events which take place in Charlbury. The town has recently become well known locally for the annual Charlbury Riverside Festival, the largest free rock and world music festival in Oxfordshire, held on a public area of watermeadow encircled by the Evenlode known as the Mill Field as it was the location of an old watermill, although this event has not taken place this year (2006) due to violence at the previous year's festival. Another popular event is the Beer Festival in which a wide range of traditionally produced English beers and ciders are available, with food and live music also provided. This event normally takes place on the second Saturday in July, with all money raised going to local groups. Also in July is the Cornbury Festival, a weekend long music festival at Cornbury Park. There is also the annual street fair in mid September, with stalls selling a variety of goods, parades, Morris dancing, music, and other entertainment. The Charlbury Riverside Festival was a regular open-air music festival held on an area of watermeadow which forms an island in the river Evenlode at the edge of the Cotswold town of Charlbury. ... A watermeadow is an area of grassland or pasture beside a river, subject to seasonal flooding. ... The GBBF beer festival A Beer Festival is an organised event during which a variety of beers will be available for tasting and buying. ... Cotswold morris with handkerchiefs A morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied with music. ...

Politics

Charlbury is situated in the constituency of Conservative Party leader David Cameron. Its town councillor is a Liberal Democrat, beating both Conservative and Green candidates in the recent West Oxfordshire District Council election. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and the oldest political party in the United Kingdom. ... The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) is the principal Green political party in England and Wales. ... West Oxfordshire is a local government district in north west Oxfordshire, England including towns such as Woodstock, Chipping Norton, Charlbury, and Witney (where the council is based). ...

Town facilities

Despite its small population (around 1,400 houses) and the increasing tendency of residents to commute to work in larger conurbations, Charlbury does retain a number of small shops including a small Co-op supermarket, as well as four pubs and a café. Increasingly people are moving to Charlbury to work from home, increasing commercial and social activity within the town. Packaged food aisles in a Fred Meyer store in Portland, Oregon A supermarket is a departmentalized self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise. ... An amusingly named pub (the Old New Inn) at Bourton-on-the-Water, in the Cotswold Hills of South West England A pub in the Haymarket area of Edinburgh, Scotland A public house, usually known as a pub, is a drinking establishment found mainly in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada... Coffeehouse in Damascus A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant. ...

Accommodation is available at two of the town's pubs, The Bell and The Bull, and there is a campsite for tents and touring caravans at Banbury Hill Farm, about half a mile from the town. Campsites are often situated in or near forests. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A travel trailer or caravan is a trailer towed behind a road vehicle (or even a horse) to provide a place to sleep which is more comfortable, sheltered and protected than a tent (although there are fold-down tent trailers [1]) . It provides the means for people to have their...

Charlbury also has a recently renovated town museum, open mainly at weekends.

Photographs

View looking down Dyers Hill.

Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1600 × 1200 pixel, file size: 600 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) A view down Dyers Hill in Charlbury taken by me. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1600 × 1200 pixel, file size: 600 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) A view down Dyers Hill in Charlbury taken by me. ...

See also

• Charlbury Road, Oxford

Dame Iris Murdoch (1919–1999), a resident of Charlbury Road. ... This article is about the city of Oxford in England. ...

External links

• Town website
• Website of St.Mary's church
• Charlbury Riverside Festival website
• Website of the Charlbury Beer Festival

Coordinates: 51.86848° N 1.49308° W Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...