The oldest road from Oxford to London was the one still called Old Road which ran via the present Cheney Lane into Old Road and then over Shotover to Wheatley where the first change of horses was made. The Shotover route was used until 1789 when it was abandoned in favour of the new and easier route up Headington Hill. At the foot of Shotover Hill was Titup Hall (now the site of Titup Hall Drive) where extra

horses were harnessed and where Dalmatian dogs were let loose, trained to nip the horses' heels to force them up the hill. Riders had to dismount to ascend the hill, and two stone mounting-blocks* can still be identified: one near the top of the hill at the Oxford end about twenty yards short of the car-park, and the other at the foot of the Wheatley end of Shotover Hill on the corner of Keydale Road near the turning to Littleworth.

* [Other mounting-blocks to have survived are at the site of the old ferry below Sandford Lock and in The Croft, Headington, at the back of the White Hart.]

Near Old Road, in the park of Shotover House. stands an obelisk, said to mark the spot where Queen Elizabeth I took leave of Oxford after her last visit in 1592. To a valedictory oration from her University escort, she replied in Latin, "Farewell, my dear scholars; may God prosper your studies. Farewell, dear Oxford; God bless thee, and increase thy sons in number, holiness and virtue. Farewell, farewell.'.

The only inscribed stone found on Old Road is a highway stone with the words:

It is to be found on the north side of Warneford Lane, twenty yards west of the junction of Gipsy Lane and Old Road.

Three other seventeenth-century highway stones have been identified:

1. At the junction of Marston Road and the footpath leading up to Cuckoo Lane, where the letters ES HEDINGTON WAY are just discernable.

2. Set into the wall on the north side of Headington Hill, twenty yards above the footbridge that spans the road. (Viewed with limited safety from the cycle lane): HERE ENDETH HEADINGTON HY WAY. WK & IF

.3. Opposite the War Memorial at the corner of Henley Avenue and Church Cowley Road. A stone at the foot of the boundary wall of Denton House with the words: ...ERE. ..IFILY HY WAY 1635

The era of the stage-coach covered the two hundred years between the restoration of the monarchy and the coming of the railways. In Oxford stage-coaching began in about 1672 with a thrice-weekly service which took two days to reach London, but the time for the London journey was eventually reduced to six hours thanks to improved roads and to shorter stages between changes of horses.

By the end of the eighteenth century there were no fewer than seventy-three separate coaches (each requiring four horses) setting out every day from Oxford in all directions. At 8 am daily, nine coaches left The Angel (opposite Queen's College) alone. Others set out from The Mitre and the Golden Cross (both, happily still standing) and from The Star and The Roebuck which once graced Cornmarket Street, as well as from The Greyhound which stood at the corner of High Street and Longwall Street.

A few vestiges remain of the stables that were needed to house the hundreds of horses required daily. In Bear Lane, the words Quartermaine's Stables have been preserved on the gatepost of what is now human accommodation for Lincoln College (and the stones to stop carriage wheels from knocking into the back of Christ Church are still in place). Merton Street, once known as Coach and Horse Lane, still has recognisable stables, now converted into garages, opposite Merton College; and the building on the corner of Longwall Street and Holywell where William R Morris had his first garage was originally a stable.

Feeding the horses must have presented a major problem. The names of two of the coaching inns which had their own source of foodstuff are preserved in the name Angel and Greyhound Meadow below Magdalen Bridge.

By 1770, Oxford was so desperately jammed up with horse-drawn transport that drastic measures had to be taken to ease the congestion. The Oxford Mileways Act of 1771 enabled the City to demolish the East Gate, the North Gate and Littlegate, to remove from Carfax (to Nuneham Courtenay) the conduit which had stood there since 1617,

to transfer the market from High Street and Cornmarket Street to the site of the present Covered Market (which was further enlarged in the nineteenth century), to widen streets (including the approach to Magdalen Bridge which was itself rebuilt), and to build a new road (still called New Road) between Queen Street and Pacey's Bridge. Botley Road had been raised on a causeway and widened in the 1760s.

Only a few traces survive of these changes. The Conduit removed from Carfax was given a new home by Lord Harcourt who used it to adorn the grounds of his newly built home at Nuneham Courtenay where it may still be seen, decorated with the initials of its original donor, Otto Nicholson.

The record of the rebuilding of Magdalen Bridge is preserved on the foundation stone to be found on the arch on the down-river side of the bridge, best viewed from the car-park of the Bursary of Magdalen College near the entrance to the Botanic Garden:

The foundation stone of the old part of this bridge was laid on March 26 1773. Architect: John Gwynn, Builder: John Randall.The bridge was widened twenty feet on the south-west side and both parapets were rebuilt by the Oxford Local Board 1882-3. Chairman: Rev. J.R.Magrath DD, Provost of Queen's College. Engineer: W. H. White, M. Inst CE; Contractor: George Moss, Liverpool.

Turnpike milestones

Roads within the City were not the only ones to receive attention in the late eighteenth century. The public highway was also improved by the application of the Turnpike Acts which aimed at making road users pay for the upkeep of roads. Turnpike Trusts had the authority to levy tolls for vehicles and animals using the highways; and Oxford, being at the hub of so many converging roads, was luckier than many other places in that the Trusts were able to raise enough money to make great improvements to the highway. Some milestones from this period survive in and near the City, but not all are now legible:

1. London Road, Headington. Near the bus-stop almost opposite the junction with Pullen's Lane: LIII miles from London. I mile to Oxford

2. London Road, Headington. Outside No.196, opposite the east entrance to Bury Knowle Park:

LII miles from London. II miles to Oxford

3. On the central reservation of A40 about fifty yards west of the traffic-lights at the entrance to Sandhills and to the Thornhill Park-and-Ride car park. (Close inspection not recommended):

LI miles from London. III miles to Oxford

4. 12 Woodstock Road opposite St Aloysius Church. Inscription now illegible. It was: 55 miles from London

5. 243 Woodstock Road, just north of the junction with Moreton Road. The only words now legible are. ..to London. ...The original wording was: 56 miles to London. Woodstock 6. Oxford 1.

6. 385 Woodstock Road, by the bus-stop just south of the junction with First Turn. Almost illegible. The wording was: Woodstock 5. Oxford 2.

7. 423 Banbury Road, just north of the Banbury Road roundabout: Oxford 2. Banbury 20.

8. 309 Abingdon Road, next to a bench on a grass verge on the north side of the road nearly opposite the entrance to the Abingdon Road Park-and-Ride car-park. Cast iron mounted on a stone: To Oxford 1 mile. To Abingdon 5 miles.

9. 37 Rose Hill, opposite Rose Hill Methodist Church: , London 56. Henley 31. Oxford 2.

10.187 Iffley Road, built into a brick wall on the corner of Henley Street, a heavily weathered stone partly painted over, with no discernable lettering. Hardly qualifies to be described as an inscribed stone, but may have been a milestone moved from elsewhere.

11.At the east corner of the tower of Magdalen College in High Street. (The only word now decipherable is. MILES. .). This was the 54th stone from London.