| Official Name: | Taston |
| Static Image Name: | The Standing Stone at Taston - geograph.org.uk - 975027.jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | Thor Stone (left foreground), with the Medieval preaching cross beyond |
| Coordinates: | 51.904°N -1.474°W |
| Os Grid Reference: | SP3621 |
| Label Position: | bottom |
| Civil Parish: | Spelsbury |
| Shire District: | West Oxfordshire |
| Shire County: | Oxfordshire |
| Region: | South East England |
| Country: | England |
| Constituency Westminster: | Witney |
| Post Town: | Chipping Norton |
| Postcode District: | OX7 |
| Postcode Area: | OX |
| Dial Code: | 01608 |
| Website: | Spelsbury Parish Council |
Taston is a hamlet in Spelsbury civil parish, about 1.6miles north of Charlbury and 4miles southeast of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.
Survey of English Place-Names:[1]
The original Old Danish name might have been:
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:
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. [2] 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.
Maps showing Access, Designations and other criteria from Natural England:
| List Entry | Category | Short description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1251432 | Grade II* | CROSS. Medieval. | |
| 1262715 | Grade II | MIDDLE FARMHOUSE. C17 and early C18 | |
| 1251433 | Grade II | BARN. Early C18 and 1884 | |
| 1262714 | Grade II | THE FIRKINS, Small house. early C18 | |
| 1262769 | Grade II | MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN. 1862 |
At the centre of Taston are the base and broken shaft of a Medieval preaching cross.[7] It is a Grade II* listed building.
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 is a small house near Thorsbrook Spring. It is built of rubble and probably dates from early in the 18th century.
At Thorsbrook Spring, about 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.
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 3miles 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:
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.
There is a cluster of Old Danish and Old Norse place names near Taston:
| Distance | Direction | Place name | Danish Old Norse | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taston near Enstone, Oxfordshire. | Norse god Thor | |||
| 1.5miles | south east | Grim's Ditch. | Norse god Odin. | |
| 1.5miles | north east | Hoar Stone (tumulus) near Enstone. | Old Norse haugr (" tumulus ") | |
| 1.5miles | north west | Hawk Stone. | Old Norse haugr | |
| 6miles | north east | Hoar Stone near Barton Abbey. | Old Norse haugr | |
| 8miles | north east | Dane Hill near Duns Tew. | Dane Hill | |
| 12miles | south east | Seacourt near the City of Oxford. | Old Norse sef (" sedge, rush ") |
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.[8] The name was associated with the Norse god Óðinn, known as Wōden to the Anglo Saxons.
Dane Hill is a small hamlet on the A4260 road from Oxford to Banbury.[9] 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):
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.