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	County Town: Oxford County Population: 600,000 (estimate)
	The North Oxfordshire Heights, the Berkshire Downs to the south, the limestone Cotswold Hills in the west and the Chiltern Hills to the east surround the county of Oxfordshire. Between the hills and downs are the Oxford Clay Vale and the Vale of the White Horse. Stone age artefacts have been recovered along the River Thames and at Uffington, where a huge figure of a horse is carved into the chalk hillside, visible for miles around. The Uffington White Horse is believed to date from the Iron Age.
	The county passed between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia, and Danish rule several times. During this period Oxford was the main market town, and nearby Abingdon was a religious centre built on the site of an important 7th century Benedictine abbey. The area developed rapidly during the medieval period due to the prosperity brought by the wool trade.
	Oxford grew in importance from the 12th century with the founding of the University of Oxford (the first university founded in the UK), but friction grew between the townspeople and students. In February 1355, a pitched battle was fought (known as the massacre of St Scholastica's Day) and a number of students were killed, and others fled, some founding another university at Cambridge.
	Oxfordshire is the most important centre for high-technology research and development and manufacturing in the United Kingdom outside London, but the county is still largely agricultural, with sheep and arable farming located on its rolling hills.
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