Woodstock Palace

Blenheim is a civil parish in West Oxfordshire, England, about 7 miles (11 km) north of Oxford. At its edge is Blenheim Palace, which is the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill and the ancestral home of the Dukes of Marlborough.

Blenheim Palace ( BLEN-im) is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and the only non-royal, non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between 1705 and 1722, and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.The palace is named after the 1704 Battle of Blenheim. It was originally intended to be a reward to John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough for his military triumphs against the French and Bavarians in the War of the Spanish Succession, culminating in the Battle of Blenheim. The land was given as a gift, and construction began in 1705, with some financial support from Queen Anne. The project soon became the subject of political infighting, with the Crown cancelling further financial support in 1712, Marlborough's three-year voluntary exile to the Continent, the fall from influence of his duchess, and lasting damage to the reputation of the architect Sir John Vanbrugh. Designed in the rare, and short-lived, English Baroque style, architectural appreciation of the palace is as divided today as it was in the 1720s. It is unique in its combined use as a family home, mausoleum and national monument. The palace is notable as the birthplace and ancestral home of Sir Winston Churchill. Following the palace's completion, it became the home of the Churchill (later Spencer-Churchill) family for the next 300 years, and various members of the family have wrought changes to the interiors, park and gardens. At the end of the 19th century, the palace was saved from ruin by funds gained from the 9th Duke of Marlborough's marriage to American railroad heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt.

The Oxfordshire Museum (also known as Oxfordshire County Museum) is in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, located in Fletcher's House, Park Street, opposite the Bear Hotel. It is a regional museum covering the county of Oxfordshire. The museum is located on the edge of the Cotswolds.The museum features collections of local history, art, archaeology, the landscape and wildlife relating to the county of Oxfordshire, and to the town of Woodstock in particular. The museum is run by Oxfordshire County Council and is located in a large historic house, Fletcher's House, in the centre of Woodstock. The museum has 11 galleries. There is also a coffee shop and a large garden behind the museum, which includes a Dinosaur Garden, displaying megalosaur footprints found in a limestone quarry near Ardley .Admission is free. In 2014, the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum (SOFO) was opened in the grounds of the museum. In 2021, SOFO launched a crowdfunding campaign for seven weeks to build a life-size WW2 Anderson Shelter.

The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum is a military museum in the town of Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, north of Oxford. The museum is on the edge of the Cotswolds.

The Bear Hotel is a hotel in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, located opposite The Oxfordshire Museum, not far from Blenheim Palace. It is one of England's original 13th-century coaching inns and has stone walls, oak beams, open fireplaces and an ivy facade. The hotel has 53 bedrooms and its restaurant has 2 A.A. Rosettes and 2 RAC Dining Awards. It is run by MacDonald Hotels and Resorts. Notable guests include Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor who stayed at the hotel on many occasions in the Marlboro suite.

Woodstock Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. The building, which is used as a community events venue, is a Grade II listed building.

Woodstock is a market town and civil parish, 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Oxford in West Oxfordshire in the county of Oxfordshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 3,100.Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is next to Woodstock, in the parish of Blenheim. Winston Churchill was born in the palace in 1874 and buried in the nearby village of Bladon. Edward, elder son of King Edward III and heir apparent, was born in Woodstock Manor on 15 June 1330. In his lifetime he was commonly called Edward of Woodstock, but is known today as the Black Prince. In the reign of Queen Mary I, her half-sister Elizabeth was imprisoned in the gatehouse of Woodstock Manor.

Blenheim Park is a 224.3-hectare (554-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest on the outskirts of Woodstock in Oxfordshire. It occupies most of the grounds of Blenheim Palace. The park was once an Anglo-Saxon chase and then a twelfth-century deer park. It now has some of the best areas of pasture and oak woodland in the country. The large lakes were created in the eighteenth century, and they are regionally important for breeding and wintering birds. Invertebrates include three rare beetles which are included in the British Red Data Book of Invertebrates, Rhizophagus oblongicollis, Plectophloeus nitidus and Aeletesatomarius.

Blenheim & Woodstock was a railway station constructed in the neoclassical style which served the town of Woodstock and Blenheim Palace in the English county of Oxfordshire. The station, as well as the line, was constructed by the Duke of Marlborough and was privately run until 1897 when it became part of the Great Western Railway. The number of trains serving the station was cut in the late 1930s, and again in 1952 down to only six trains a day. The last train ran on 27 February 1954 adorned with a wreath. The station building was initially converted into a garage and petrol station. Then the forecourt of the site was no longer used as a petrol station, but for used car sales only with a building company using some of the land behind the station. There were proposals for demolishing the building to make space for housing, but the district council rejected them as "The former station building makes a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the Woodstock Conservation Area." Approval was given only after the plans included retaining the station building.In 2013 the land behind the station building was built on as a small estate of high specification houses, and the station building was retained with no major changes to the main structure but small changes to the detail. It is now used as small offices and commercial premises. The forecourt is a small landscaped garden. The station from the rails side

Blenheim Park Railway is a 15 in (381 mm) gauge miniature railway operating in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, England.

The River Glyme is a river in Oxfordshire, England. It is a tributary of the River Evenlode. It rises about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Chipping Norton, and flows southeast past Old Chalford, Enstone, Kiddington, Glympton and Wootton, Woodstock and through Blenheim Park. At Wootton the Glyme is joined by a tributary, the River Dorn. The Glyme joins the Evenlode just south of the park near Bladon. The Glyme is dammed at Cleveley, Kiddington, Glympton and Blenheim. At Blenheim, "Capability" Brown used the river to form the lake in front of Blenheim Palace. The upper part of the Glyme Valley around the river's headwaters is a Site of Special Scientific Interest.The Glyme Valley Way footpath follows almost the entire course of the river. The river's name is derived from the Brittonic for "bright stream".

Bladon is a village and civil parish on the River Glyme about 6+1⁄2 miles (10.5 km) northwest of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, notable as the burial place of Sir Winston Churchill. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 898.