And it is still called by its old name of the Weir
Stream. "There is one river called Weyre, where hath bin an Hythe, at
which place boatmen unload their vessels, which also maketh that antient
mill under the castle seldom or never to faile from going, to the great
convenience of the inhabitants." So says Antony Wood, adding that it stood
before the Norman conquest. After that it was forfeited to the Norman
kings, and then held in half shares by the burgesses of the town and the
abbots of Oseney, that once wealthy and now vanished abbey, which stood
close by where the railway station now is. They shared the fishery also,
and apparently this partnership prevented friction between the town and
the monks, as each could undersell the other, and prices for flour and
fish were kept down at a reasonable figure.
Henry VIII. gave the abbey's share to the new bishopric of Oxford, but the
funds of the bishopric were embezzled by some means, and the town
ultimately bought the mill for L566.
St. George's Tower, the only remaining fragment of the castle, is built of
stones and mortar, so compact that though the walls have stood since
Robert d'Oily reared it, late in the reign of the Conqueror, the stones
and mortar had to be cut out as if from a mass of rock when a water-pipe
was recently taken through the walls.
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