Horspath is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire about 3+1⁄2 miles (5.6 km) east of the centre of Oxford, England.

"[4] Horspath parish was once part of the medieval Royal Forest of Shotover, with dense woodland cover extending from Islip to Cuddesdon until "disafforestation" in 1660.

[3] Three Oxford University colleges: Corpus Christi, Magdalen, and Brasenose have owned land and property in the parish.

A connection with Queen's College comes from the 15th century when, according to legend, student John Copcot, walking in Shotover Forest reading his Aristotle, was attacked by a wild boar.

The college ceremony of carrying in the Boar's Head at Christmas is derived from this, as is the stained glass window in St Giles church, presented in 1740 by the President of Magdalen to commemorate the Copcot Legend.

Several sightings have been reported and in December 1878 a first-class shot claimed he had fired three times at the figure, and found two bullets embedded in the wall.

The tower arch features two unusual almost life-size sculptures of human figures: one playing the bagpipes and the other showing an expression of amazement.

[7] Late in the 15th century, Perpendicular Gothic windows were inserted in both sides of the chancel and the north wall of the nave.

[3] In the 18th century Magdalen College, Oxford and the Earl of Abingdon contributed to the building of a west gallery in the nave.

By 1840 the east wall of the chancel was out of alignment so the chancel was demolished and rebuilt to designs by the architect HJ Underwood, who retained the Perpendicular Gothic side windows with their medieval stained glass but dispensed with the medieval roof and replaced the Early English Gothic east windows with a neo-Perpendicular one.

[11] St Giles' has an Elizabethan silver chalice made in about 1569,[7] a carved late Jacobean pulpit,[7] and a number of monumental plaques.

In 1456 the hospital was suppressed, and all its property granted to Magdalen College, Oxford, newly founded by William Waynflete.

It met in people's homes until 1871 when the current brick-built chapel just west of the village green was completed and opened.

In 1644 Sir Arthur Aston, the Royalist Governor of Oxford, was thrown from his horse and injured here when "kerveting on horseback .

In 1648 George Nicolson, vicar of St Giles, was deprived of his demyship to Magdalen College for abusing Parliamentary soldiers.

[3] Buildings in Horspath reflect the underlying geology, with many older houses built from rubblestone of the distinctive local Corallian limestone.

[2][3] Horspath has 15 listed buildings including farm outbuildings and a cowhouse, the manor house, the parish church, and two thatched cottages, of which there were once 17, but fire has destroyed most.

[4] In 1936 the Queen's Head public house caught fire and sparks from the thatch destroyed two cottages opposite.

[4] In the 19th and early 20th centuries laundresses stretched their lines across the village green and market gardeners tended their vegetables for Pembroke College, Oxford.

The 1871 census recorded a population of 373, including 93 employed on the land, 14 craftsmen, 30 in other trades, a curate and two publicans.

[citation needed] Early in the 20th century there was much change with Tarmacadam roads, housing developments and mobile homes replacing farmland and manor grounds, and the loss of the elms and the village pond.