The village of Islip is in between Bicester and Oxford. The village has existed since Saxon times and most notably was the birthplace of Saint (and King) Edward the Confessor. Remains of a Roman villa have also been found nearby showing the area has been inhabited for millennia.
In the Domesday Book Islip was recorded as having a water mill and had a predominantly agricultural economy. The London-Worcester Road forded, and later crossed by a bridge, the river Ray at Islip. This gave Islip a strategic importance during the Civil War with both sides occupying the village at different times.
Islip gained a railway station in 1850. The station was closed in 1967 but re-opened in 1989. The church of St Nicholas is Norman dating from 1200 (Edward the Confessor was baptised in an earlier church in Islip).
