Taston is a hamlet in Spelsbury civil parish, about 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north of Charlbury and 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.

Taston is about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the Akeman Street Roman road.

The survey of English Place-Names records Taston as Thorstan in 1278–9, Thorstane in 1316, Torstone in 1492 and Taston in 1608–9.^[1]

The name element Thor is a reference to the Norse God Thor. The name element stan is from Old English stān (stone ). The toponym might be Thor stone or Thor's stone.^{[citation needed]}

The Thor Stone is a monolithic standing stone that stands about seven-foot tall in the centre of Taston.^[2] It is a menhir, meaning that it was manhandled there by humans. A local myth maintains that the stone portrays the image of a thunderbolt, and that it was created by a thunderbolt from Thor himself.^[3][4] It is a scheduled monument.^[5]

At the centre of Taston are the base and broken shaft of a Medieval preaching cross.^[6] It is a Grade II* listed building.^[7]

Middle Farmhouse is a house built of coursed rubble in the 17th and early 18th centuries.^[8] Part of the roof is of Stonesfield slate. The farmstead has a four-bay barn that was built of stone early in the 18th century and altered in 1884.^[9]

The Firkins is a small house near Thorsbrook Spring. It is built of rubble and probably dates from early in the 18th century.^[10]

At Thorsbrook Spring, about 140 yards (130 m) southeast of the preaching cross, is a Victorian Gothic Revival memorial fountain. It was built in 1862 in memory of Henrietta, Viscountess Dillon,^[11] wife of Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon.

• Burnham, Andy (2018). The Old Stones. Watkins Media Limited. ISBN 9781786781543.
• Williams, Gareth; Naylor, John (2016). King Alfreds Coins, The Watlington Viking Hoard. Ashmolean museum, University of Oxford. ISBN 978-1-910807-13-2.
• Oliver, Neil (2012). Vikings; A History. Phoenix. ISBN 978-1-7802-2282-0.
• Crossley, Alan; Elrington, C R, eds. (1979). 'Medieval Oxford', A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 4. British History Online. pp. 3–73. Retrieved 2 June 2023.

• Megalithic Portal Map Search – Thor Stone The Megalithic Portal
• The Modern Antiquarian – Thor Stone The Modern Antiquarian