The Town Chipping Norton stands on a Northern spur of the Cotswold Hills on the Oxford to Worcester road. It is the highest town in Oxfordshire and for many centuries was a centre of the woollen industry. The name "Chipping" means a market or trading place and was first recorded in 1244. Considerable evidence exists to suggest the Romans stayed at Chipping Norton. In Norman times there was a Manor of Norton and in about 1120, a Motte and Bailey Castle was built. During the Middle Ages, when English wool was seen as the best in the world, King John gave Norton a charter to hold a fair at which wool was sold, making the town wealthy. The fair was later called Mop Fair and though it is no longer concerned with the trade of wool, is still an annual event today.