In the reign of Queen Mary I, her half-sister Elizabeth was imprisoned in the gatehouse of Woodstock Manor.

[11] The Domesday Book of 1086 describes Woodstock (Wodestock, Wodestok, Wodestole) as a royal forest.

[13] The Bear Hotel in Park Street opposite The Oxfordshire Museum dates from the 13th century.

Near the village was Woodstock Palace, a residence that was popular with several English kings throughout the medieval period.

The town had a successful fine steelwork industry by 1720 and by 1742 its products were of high enough quality to be considered viable diplomatic gifts.

[17] Richard Keene apparently closed the Woodstock foundry in the 1680s[17] but continued casting bells at Royston, Hertfordshire, until 1703.

[16] Numerous parish churches still have one or more bells cast by the Keenes, including at Asthall, Bloxham, Cassington, Charlton-on-Otmoor, Chastleton, Chesterton, Duns Tew, Eynsham, Garsington, Islip, Kiddington, Merton, Milton, North Moreton, Oddington, Rousham, Sandford St Martin, Stanton Harcourt, Steeple Aston, Steeple Barton, Stratton Audley, Tackley, Towersey and Woodeaton in Oxfordshire, Stowe and Water Stratford in Buckinghamshire, Stanton in Gloucestershire, Middleton Cheney in Northamptonshire and Martley in Worcestershire.

Churchill had been given the manor in perpetuity in honour of his victories over the French and the Bavarians at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession.

[3] The greater part of the art treasures and curios were sold off in 1886, as was the great library collected by Charles Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, the son-in-law of the first Duke of Marlborough, in 1881.

[3] Blenheim Palace was the hosting venue for the 4th European Political Community Summit on 18 July 2024.

The later town appears to have been laid out as a planned settlement in the 12th century on a previously unoccupied site in the parish of Bladon, south of the Glyme.

[21] In the Hundred Rolls of 1279 Woodstock is described as a vill, but a burgess is alluded to in the same document, and it returned two members to parliament as a borough in 1302 and 1305.

The Woodstock parliamentary borough was then exempted from sending representatives to parliament, but it subsequently resumed electing two members in the 16th century.

Government commissioners had concluded that the borough corporation had too few functions and the town was too small to justify the cost of reform.

[22] The borough corporation continued to exist, but did not qualify to take on any subsequent new local government powers.

[26] Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South and ITV Meridian.

At the start of the 2023–2024 season, Woodstock Town moved both senior sides playing into the Oxfordshire_Senior_Football_League.