| Thame (pronounced "Tame" with a silent "h") | | | | |
| is a market town in Oxfordshire, England, on | | | | The town is well known as the site of |
| the River Thame between Aylesbury and Oxford. | | | | Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill was |
| It has a population of around 12,000. | | | | born in 1874, and the grave of Churchill in |
| Situated just short of the county border, | | | | nearby Bladon. |
| Thame lies close to the Buckinghamshire | | | | |
| villages of Haddenham and Long Crendon. | | | | The name Woodstock is Anglo Saxon in origin. |
| | | | At that time, English kings would log in the |
| The town is 14 miles east of Oxford, 10 miles | | | | area of Woodstock whose name stands for a |
| south-west of Aylesbury and 47 miles from | | | | clearing in the woods. |
| London. To the west of Thame the A418 joins | | | | |
| with the M40 motorway linking London to | | | | The little river Glyme, in a steep and |
| Birmingham. | | | | picturesque valley, divides the town into New |
| | | | and Old Woodstock. |
| Founded in Anglo-Saxon times, Thame grew up | | | | |
| to service local agricultural activity and | | | | The Domesday Book describes Woodstock |
| the nearby Cistercian monastery at Thame | | | | (Wodestock, Wodestok, Wodestole) as a royal |
| Park, suppressed at the Reformation. The | | | | forest; it is said that King Alfred stayed at |
| church of St Mary the Virgin dates from about | | | | Woodstock in the year 890. Another famous |
| 1240. | | | | resident was Ethelred the Unready, who is |
| | | | said to have held a council there. Henry I |
| Thame railway station closed in 1963, but the | | | | may have kept a menagerie in the park. |
| town is now served by Haddenham and Thame | | | | Woodstock was the scene of King Henry II's |
| Parkway railway station. On the third | | | | courtship of Rosamund Clifford (Fair |
| Thursday of September the town stages the | | | | Rosamund). The market of the town was |
| largest one day agricultural show in the | | | | established when King Henry II gave Woodstock |
| United Kingdom. | | | | a Royal charter in 1179. |
| | | | |
| W. Lucy & Co. has been based in the town | | | | The town was altered greatly during the 17th |
| since 2005. The town's two largest employers | | | | century, when the Duke of Marlborough became |
| are CPM and Travelodge, who both have their | | | | a permanent resident. The local inn, the |
| Head Offices located on the periphery of | | | | Bear, was capable of accommodating vast |
| town. | | | | numbers of visitors and horses. |
| | | | |
| Famous citizens include courtier Lord | | | | The parish church (dedicated to St Mary |
| Williams of Thame, who founded Lord | | | | Magdalene) has a doorway of Norman origin. It |
| Williams's Grammar School in the town in | | | | features a musical clock which chimes every |
| 1559, and John Hampden. | | | | hour. The town hall of Woodstock was built in |
| | | | 1766 after the designs of Sir William |
| Thame is home to the very successful Chinnor | | | | Chambers, and there are a number of 17th |
| Rugby Club who play in National Division 3 | | | | century buildings in the centre. The |
| South, they are the youngest club ever to | | | | almshouses were erected in 1798 by Caroline, |
| play at this level. | | | | duchess of Marlborough. Chaucer's House was |
| | | | once home to the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. |
| Trivia | | | | |
| | | | In the past the town prospered on |
| According to J. R. R. Tolkien's story "Farmer | | | | manufacturing gloves (since from the 16th |
| Giles of Ham", Thame got its name because of | | | | century). Today it is largely dependent on |
| its resident tame dragon. | | | | tourists, many of whom visit Bleinheim |
| | | | Palace. The Palace was designed by John |
| In 1940, a local truck driver called Willocks | | | | Vanbrugh, in a heavy Italo-Corinthian style. |
| McKenzie whilst walking along the banks of | | | | It was designated to John Churchill, the |
| the River Thame, discovered a hoard of gold | | | | first Duke of Marlborough. Most of the Palace |
| coins and rings, thought to be at least four | | | | was paid for by the nation. Churchill was |
| hundred years old. The Ashmolean Museum | | | | given this palace in honour for his victories |
| declared it to be 'Treasure Trove', and the | | | | over the French and the Bavarians at Blenheim |
| collection can still be found on display. One | | | | in 1704. |
| of the rings features a distinctive cross | | | | |
| with two horizontal sections. This has been | | | | The greater part of the art treasures and |
| adopted as the official logo of the Thame | | | | curios were sold off in 1886, and the great |
| Town Council. | | | | library collected by Charles Spencer, earl of |
| | | | Sunderland, the son-in-law of the first duke |
| Thame is home to Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees. | | | | of Marlborough, in 1881. The magnificent park |
| | | | contains Fair Rosamund's Well, near which |
| Woodstock is a small town in Oxfordshire, | | | | stood her bower. On the summit of a hill |
| England. It is located about 12 kilometres | | | | stands a column commemorating the duke. |
| north of Oxford, 72.75 miles W.N.W. of | | | | Blenheim Park forms a separate parish. |
| London. | | | | |
| | | | The Oxfordshire Museum, the county museum of |
| The Princess Elizabeth was famously kept a | | | | Oxfordshire, is housed in a large historic |
| prisoner here, in the gatehouse of Woodstock | | | | house, Fletcher’s House, in the centre |
| Manor (the manor itself being too dilapidated | | | | of Woodstock. |
| to house her). | | | | |