The Burford Records - A Study in Minor Town Government #233396

MY thanks are due to many whose kindness has contributed to the making of this book. In the first place, I have to thank Mrs. Cheatle, who, by allowing me access to the portion of the Burford Records in her possession, gave the first im pulse towards what has become a considerable undertaking. Secondly, I express my thanks to the Burford Charity Trustees for the long study I was permitted to make of the Records in their keeping. In this connexion I gladly acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. E. J. Horniman, who not Only provided the monetary guarantee required by the Trustees for the safety of their documents, but has, throughout my work, given me that peculiarly valuable kind of encouragement — an ever-ready interest in the details of my investigations. To the President and Fellows of Brasenose College, Oxford, my thanks are due for permission to print extracts from the series of leases of property in Burford formerly held by the College, which the kindness of the Bursar of the College enabled me to consult, and from which I have gathered some of the earliest facts, hitherto unknown, in the history of the Corporation of Burford. The Rev. W. C. Emeris, m.a., Vicar of Burford and Rural Dean, has added to many incidental kindnesses' the writing of much of the chapter on the parish church of Burford, thus giving to my book in that respect an authority which no one else could have given it. I am sincerely grateful to him for the generosity with which he has allowed me to make use of his knowledge in this and other points of Burford history. To the skill of my brother-in-law, Mr. David Crichton, m.a., and of Mr. Frederick Hall, Controller of the Oxford University Press, I owe the admirable series of photographs of Burford. Buildings; and to Mr. H. E. Conway the view of Burford, from a painting by him, which appears as the frontispiece.