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Bicester was included in the 'Railway boom'of the 1840's. The line from Bletchley to Oxford formed part of the ‘Buckinghamshire Railway’ and was completed in 1848,(see below- Varsity Line),along with ‘a neat station at the bottom of the London-road’ which opened in 1850. This is now Bicester Town Station. Bicester’s fist fatal railway accident occurred at the station in September 1851.
The town now has two railway stations: Bicester North and Bicester Town. Bicester North is served by Chiltern Railways train services between London (Marylebone) and Birmingham (Snow Hill). Bicester Town, located to the south of the town has a branch line service to Oxford and Islip which follows the old Varsity Line track between Oxford and Cambridge.
- Schools
Bicester is home to two secondary schools: Bicester Community College (BCC) and The Cooper School. There are also a number of primary schools (including Brookside Primary) in the locality. More Schools are set to be built as Bicester is projected to double in size from 30,000 to 60,000 in between 2007 and 2027.
- Shopping
The historic shopping streets, particularly Sheep Street and Market Square have a wide range of local and national shops together with cafes pubs and restaurants. Sheep Street is now pedestrianised with car parks nearby. Weekly markets take place in the town centre along with Farmers Markets and an occasional French Market. A £70 million development of the town centre is due to take place from 2008 to include 15 restaurants, a cinema and numerous shops. South of Bicester beyond Pingle Field is the retail outlet Bicester Village Shopping Centre. Further towards Oxford is one of the largest Garden Centres in the UK.
- Churches
Bicester has numerous churches under the Churches Together banner such as St Edburg's Parish Church (Anglican); Emmanuel Church (Charismatic Anglican, meeting in Bure Park School); the Church of the Immaculate Conception (Roman Catholic); the Methodist Church; Orchard Baptist Fellowship (meeting in Cooper School); Elim Lighthouse Church (Pentecostal - meeting in the Methodist church); Bicester Community Church (meeting in the Salvation Army Church) and The Salvation Army itself. Not part of the Churches Together group are the Bicester Baptist Church (meeting in Southwold Community Centre) and Hebron Gospel Hall.
[edit] Trivia
- Anecdotes and Adventures of Fifteen Gentlemen (1821) by Richard Scrafton Sharpe, includes the Limerick 'There was an old soldier of Bicester...' http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/limbooks/fg04.html
- John Drinkwater's poem, The Patriot contains a reference to Bicester brakes that violets fill
- The anonymous rhyme I went to Noke, commemorating the attempts to bribe locals to give away the names of Otmoor Rebels of 1831, includes the line I went to Bister, they said ow'do mister , indicating a polite but unhelpful response.
- The trilogy Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson was based in the north east of Bicester. Some of the book's plot was set in the nearby villages of Juniper Hill, Hethe, Cottisford and Fringford.
- The charity Oxfam has its emergency warehouse in Bicester.
[edit] References
- Beesley. Alfred The History of Banbury (1841) (Extra illustrated version- vol. 16 OxLSC)
- Blomfield J C. History of the present deanery of Bicester, Pt 2 (Oxford 1882-94)
- Bond C J. ‘The Small Towns of Oxfordshire in the Nineteenth Century’, in T Rowley (Ed). The Oxford Region 55-79 (1980)
- Dannatt G H. Bicester in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Oxoniensia vols XXVI/XXVII (1961/2)
- Dunkin John .The History and Antiquities of Bicester; a market town in Oxfordshire (1816)
- Dunkin John. History and Antiquities of the hundreds of Bullingdon and Ploughley (1823)
- Kennett White. Parochial antiquities attempted in the history of Ambrosden, Burchester, and other adjacent parts in the Counties of Oxford and Bucks* Lawton, E.R. and Sackett, M.W., (1992), The Bicester Military Railway, Oxford Publishing Co., ISBN 0-86093-467-5
- Mitchell, V. and Smith, K., (2005), Country Railway Routes: Oxford to Bletchley, Middleton Press, ISBN 1-90447-457-8
- Parkinson R, Continuity and Change in an Oxfordshire Market Town- Bicester 1801-1861. Unpublished dissertation- Kellogg College. Oxford (2007)
[edit] External Links
Bicester Links Local authority links, printable map, bus & taxi links etc.
(Source: Wikipedia) |