student of the physical phases of the science rather than to the
palaeontologist, though it does not appear in either case that the
conditions presented are difficult to read. Beginning with the low range
of hills three miles N.W. of Kineton, forming the Trias outcrop, and
fringed with a thin development of Rhaetics, we cross the broad plain of
the Lower Lias almost without undulation, save in the ridge which
stretches from Gaydon to Butler's Marston, until the foot of Edge Hill
itself is reached. Fragments of Ammonites of the _rotiformis_ type are
occasionally ploughed up in the plain, and the railway cutting at North
End has yielded specimens of _Ammonites semicostatus_. The hill slopes are
in the main formed of the clays and shales of the Middle Lias, the Zone of
_Ammonites margaritatus_ with certain characteristic fossils, _Cypricardia
cucullata_, &c., appearing in the old brickyard at Arlescot. There is no
other exposure of the seleniferous shales of the zone; their course is
masked by a rich belt of woodland. The natural terraces somewhat
characteristic of this horizon in the midlands are roughly developed
towards the Sun Rising, and are more perfectly shown at Hadsham hollow in
the Hornton vale. At Shenington, four miles southward, there are some
beautifully terraced fields, one locally known as Rattlecombe Slade
recalling to mind the lynchets of the Inferior Oolite sands of
Dorsetshire. They are in the main terraces of drainage, the step-like form
of subsidence being due to the composition of the seleniferous marls and
under waste. The terraces are of exceptional regularity, and run parallel
to the lines of drainage; in one case, however (Kenhill), in the same
locality, they form a bay or recess on the hill slope. A familiar instance
of the last phase is to be seen at the Bear Garden, Banbury. The salient
feature of the Edge Hill escarpment is the Marlstone rock-bed, the
uppermost division of the Middle Lias. Several sections in this zone
(_Ammonites spinatus_) may be seen near the Round House. It has three main
divisions: The upper red layers the roadstone, the middle of several green
hard beds called top-rag, and the lower courses of dark green softer
stone, the best rag (used for building). Some of the quarries have been
worked for centuries, and the grey green slabs of Hornton stone, its local
name, are familiar on the hearths and in the homes of nearly the whole
country-side. At this its N.W. outcrop, the rock thickens considerably,
attaining a development of about twenty-four feet. The stone itself is a
ferruginous limestone, greenish when unweathered, otherwise of a rich red
brown colour. Good evidence of its durability as a building material is
shewn in the fine fourteenth century churches of North Oxon, which are
almost without exception built of the stone. Near the Beacon House on the
Burton Dassett Hills, a good section is exposed in which fossils are found
more freely. Amongst the brachiopod shells _Waldhemia indentata_,
_Terebratula punctata_, _T. Edwardsii_ occur, together with an abundance
of the characteristic _Rhynchonella tetraedra_: _Spiriferinae_ are rare.
When the ironstone workings were extended, ten years or so since, large
_Pholadomya ambigua_ and other shells were obtainable from some sandy beds
at the base of the series. Capping the "spinatus" beds are a few feet of
Upper Lias Clay belonging to the zone of _Ammonites serpentinus_, and
fragments of the Ammonites common to the horizon are scattered about; but
these beds are not found along the escarpment east of Shenloe Hill.
By the roadside leading from Burton Dassett to Fenny Compton, a small
quarry on the south side shows a patch of Inferior Oolite. A fault has
preserved this the only remnant to prove the former extension of the
Bajocian beds over the area of the Burton and Edge Hills. Tysoe Hill, four
miles S.W. of the Round House, and the hills which fringe the borderland
of Warwickshire and Oxon, are nearly all capped with sands or limestones
of the Inferior Oolite, and occasionally with the marly limestones of the
Great Oolite also.
[Illustration: BANBURY CROSS.]
III.
NOTES ON BANBURY AND THEREABOUT.
STATISTICAL TABLE.
Banbury, in N.E. Oxfordshire, on river Cherwell, drainage N. to S.
Altitudes: river level, 300 o.d.; the Cross, 331; high town, 424.
Average rainfall, 27.59 inches. Mean temperature, 41.5.
Population, Municipal Borough, 12,967.
Parliamentary division of Banbury, in W. Oxon., bounded E. by river
Cherwell, S. by line from E. to W. through Finstock. Member of Parliament,
1890, A. Brassey, Esq., Heythrop Park, Chipping Norton.
Railway Systems: G. W. R.; L. & N. W. R.; B. & C. R.; N. & B. J. R.; G. C.
R.
Canal: Oxford and Birmingham.
Table of Distances in miles from Banbury:--
Aylesbury 32
Bicester 15-1/4
Birmingham 42
Brailes 10
Buckingham 17
Byfield 9-1/4
Brackley 9
Charlbury 15-3/4
Chipping Norton 13
Cheltenham 39-1/2
Enstone 12
Edge Hill 8-1/2
Deddington 6
Daventry 17
Hook Norton 9
Harbury 14
Kineton 11-1/2
Leamington 21
London 70
Moreton-in-Marsh 21
Northampton 24
Oxford 22-1/2
Stratford-on-Avon 20
Shipston-on-Stour 13-1/2
Southam 14
Stow-on-the-Wold 20-1/4
Towcester 17-1/2
Warwick 20
Witney 23
Woodstock 16-1/2
_Municipal Properties and Buildings:_
The Cross
The Town Hall
The Old Bridge and Bridge-ways
The Municipal School
The Recreation Ground and Baths
The Spittal (Sewage) Farm
_Ecclesiastical and other Buildings:_
St. Mary's (Parish) Church
Vicarage House
Christ Church
St. Paul's Church, Neithrop
St. John's Church (R.C.)
St. John's Priory
Wesleyan Chapel, Marlborough Road
Congregational Chapel, South Bar
Baptist Chapel, Bridge St.
Unitarian Chapel, Horse Fair
The Corn Exchange
The Mechanics' Institute
The Horton Infirmary
The Borough Arms: The Sun in glory or' and on a mount vert. A lily argent
in pare the letters B.A.
Manufactures: Agricultural implements and machinery, patent files, patent
boxes, and cabinet goods; linen garments; cloth; cakes; ale and beer;
horse girths; patent gates.
Geology: Lower town, Middle Lias clays and thin limestones; Middle town,
Middle Lias seleniferous marls and thin limestones; High town, Middle Lias
rock (ironstone); Crouch Hill and Constitution Hill, capped with thick
Upper Lias clays and Inferior Oolite limestones and sand.
BANBURY CROSS.--A fine hexagonal Gothic structure, fifty feet in height,
was erected from the designs of the architect, Mr. John Gibbs, in 1859, in
commemoration of the marriage of the Princess Royal with Prince Frederick
William of Prussia. On the buttresses of the lower stage are painted the
municipal seals of old Banbury. Between the buttresses are pedestals
intended to receive statues. Statues of the late Queen, Oliver Cromwell,
and Whateley would complete the beauty of the structure if accompanied by
the removal of the palisading. The upper panels are enriched with
conventional ornaments of vine, ivy, rose, and other flowers, and bear the
arms or cyphers of Queens Mary and Victoria, Kings Charles I. and George
I., the Princess William of Prussia, the Earls of Banbury and Guildford,
Viscount Saye and Sele, Sir William Cope, Sir William Compton, the Bishop
of Lincoln, and the Rev. W. Whateley. The celebrated old Cross is believed
to have stood near the site of the present one, and was destroyed about
the year 1602, at which time it went ill with the other Crosses which
formerly adorned the town, owing to excesses of religious zeal. The High
Cross mentioned in King Ed. VI.'s reign is probably the same as The Bread
Cross repaired in 1563, on the site of which the present Cross is supposed
to be. Of the White Cross "outside Sugarford" (West) Bar and of the Market
Cross no more can be said. From a passage in Leland's Itinerary, it
appears that the Cross was of some note, and from the old nursery rhyme,
"Ride a cock-horse," &c., if from no more veracious record, it seems that
it was honoured by an occasional pageant.
THE PARISH CHURCH (ST. MARY'S).--The old church, of which there is
abundant record in engravings and contemporary drawings, stood on the
ground where now is the new church. Of fine proportions and good style,
its destruction (1790) appears to have been an ill-judged measure. It had
a massive west tower, embattled and crowned by eight ornamented pinnacles
and a series of beautiful windows on the south and south-east sides. Its
chantry of St. Mary was founded in 1413, and there was another chapel
dedicated to honour the resurrection of our Lord. Records remain of the
armorial glass, nearly all of which was destroyed during the time of the
siege of Banbury Castle, when the church was used as a vantage point.
There were sixty coats of arms. The church was said to be the burying
place of Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, its founder, also of William Pope,
cofferer to Henry VII., and of Captayn Wm. Danvers who died "in the
service of God and the King" in 1643. Mr. Arden's list of the Vicars of
Banbury gives the date of death of Vicar Roger as 1278. Many of the
remains of the old fabric are in use as ornaments in Banbury gardens.
Erected about 1797, the present church stands in architecture far away
from the taste of the time. It is nevertheless a bold and good design by
Cockerill of domestic Doric style. Betwixt its beginning and its
completion so many years intervened as to give birth to the rhyme:
"Proud Banbury, poor people,
Built a church without a steeple."
The portico with its semicircle of plain columns and the circular tower,
133 feet high, with its ornamental quartrefoiling and the balconied
alleis are not without massive beauty of their own. The bareness and heavy
structure of the body are compensated for by the beauty of the interior
decoration, which is of the best of the mural work of the kingdom. The
galleries and dome are supported by twelve graceful Ionic pillars,
arranged in an octagonal figure. The chancel has been re-built in unison
with the original design, and the apse is worked in colour in three
divisions representing the twelve apostles with trees of scripture in the
background. The ceiling illustrates the enthronement of Christ (Rev. iv.)
On the wall, at the east of the nave, are inscribed the tables of the
commandments. A band of gold encircles the dome, bearing the text, "The
Lord is in His holy temple," &c. The painted windows are good examples of
modern work; one in the north-west gallery is in memory of the explorer,
Admiral Sir G. Back, uncle of the late vicar, and represents arctic scenes
and figures. The work was carried out at the cost of and during the office
of the late vicar, the Rev. H. Back, aided by Miss Wyatt and others. The
decorators were Messrs. Heaton, Butler and Baines. There is also a richly
inlaid marble font, and pulpit. At the time of the Victorian Jubilee the
peal of eight bells was overhauled, and new chimes with shifts for
three weeks added to the clock tower. Beesley gives four of the bells as
having been made by the Bagleys' of Chacombe, where they had a well known
17th century bell foundry. The eighth bell bears the inscription:
"I ring to Sermon with a lusty boome
That all may come and none may stay at home."
[Illustration: INTERIOR ST. MARY'S CHURCH. BANBURY.]
THE VICARAGE HOUSE, dated 1649, stands against the south-west corner of
the churchyard, and is a handsome specimen of the domestic architecture of
the period. The gabled front, window mullions and porch remain of the old
work, and also the hall and front rooms. The room over the porch, used as
a private chapel, seems to be of its old service. Very carefully has the
interior ornamentation been carried out, of which the cornice of music
staves of the front room is an instance.
OLD HOUSES.--The gabled houses on the north side of the High Street, and
on the south and west sides of the Market Place, are good examples of
domestic architecture of late Tudor or early Stuart times. An old
sun-dial, bearing the motto "Aspice et abi," is attached to the front of
the High Street houses. The barge boards and pargeting of the front and
the good casemated windows of the west side remain, but the roof has been
stripped of its Stonesfield slate, and the finials are badly restored.
Also worth notice is the front of No. 11 Market Place, and the old jail,
No. 3 (1646), though the lower stage has been cut away. Orchard House,
Neithrop, the front of which it is said was protected by woolsacks during
the siege of Banbury Castle, stands on a mound away from the road side. It
bears the appearance of a manor house, as it probably was, and it has a
massive oak stair-way. The Woodlands, Horse Fair, has a handsome garden
front; it was formerly an inn. The Woodlands, as well as the school house
near by, now Banbury Academy (and here Dean Swift commenced his Gulliver's
Travels, taking the title of Gulliver from the name on a tomb in the
churchyard opposite), are typical houses of the time. A beautifully carved
oak cornice remains in the north-west room of house No. 47 North Bar, Mrs.
J. Bolton's.
CALTHORPE HOUSE.--The Calthorpe Manor of old time is now sadly diminished,
its fish pond drained and its park a building ground. The north-west part
of the house is in use as a wool warehouse, but yet the east front, now
Calthorpe House School, stands in good order with stone porch, and
armorial shield of the Hawtayne's, and a good oriel window above bearing
the arms in stained glass of the Brancestre (1545) and Danvers'
families. The inscriptions thereon are "Danvers Matched D'Oyley," "Danvers
long time owned Calthropp," etc. The house, one of the religious houses of
early date and probably part of the hospice of St. John, was linked with
the early history of the town. Beesley and Macnamara speak of its
associations with the Brancestre family in the time of Richard II. (1378),
and later with that of Danvers. The former granted lands to the master of
St. John, thus implying a religious holding. By its reconstruction in
Queen Elizabeth's days we know the reformation had swept away its
religious order, and the fine oriel window is of that date. It is said
that Nonconformity was preached for the first time in Banbury in the oriel
room.
[Illustration: COURTYARD, REINDEER INN, BANBURY.]
OLD INNS.--The Reindeer, in Parson's Street, is probably older than any of
the houses before mentioned; the wooden gates are dated 1570, and have
inscribed on them the names Iohn Knight, Ihone Knight, David Horne. The
richly moulded ceiling and the fine panelling of the principal room, known
as the Globe Room, are of the style of the Italian renaissance, and above
the window is an inscription of the date 1570. The Unicorn Inn, in the
Market Place, and the adjoining house, at one time no doubt part of the
inn, belong to a later period; the massive wooden gates are carved with
the date 1648. The Old George (1614) seems to have formerly borne the name
of The George and Altarstone, from a supposed Roman altar dug up on the
site of the inn, and formerly exhibited in one of the rooms.
THE BARS.--The entrances to the town were formerly crossed by gates, or
bars, five in number. The North Bar, from which the present street is
named, stood near the tan-yard, southward of the corner of Warwick Road.
The Cole Bar closed the old Adderbury and Oxford Road, which entered the
town by way of New Land and Broad Street before the making of the turnpike
road. St. John's Bar closed the entrance from Chipping Norton, and stood
at the spot where Monument Street now enters South Bar. When the Bar was
destroyed its site was marked by an obelisk, long since removed, from
which Monument Street takes its name. Sugarford Bar stood in West Street,
close to where it is now crossed by the Shades, and the Bridge Gate stood
on the old bridge over the Cherwell. Not a vestige of any of the bars
remains.
THE MECHANICS' INSTITUTE, founded 1835, received the gift of its new
building in Marlborough Road in 1884. It has a general library and a
reference library and news and magazine rooms well suited to the
requirements of the day. There is an excellent replica of Herkomer's
portrait of the donor in the news room.
THE MUNICIPAL SCHOOL buildings adjoin the Institute, and are also in part
a gift to the town by the Right Hon. Sir Bernhard Samuelson (Parliamentary
representative of Banbury for 30 years). It is also a School of Science
and Art, with well equipped rooms for art study, and with good
laboratories and class rooms. The School of Science and Art was a
continuation of science and art classes which were among the earliest
started in the kingdom (1861). It shows a good record of work. The
buildings are well proportioned, and the doorways of the local (Hornton)
stone are bold, and have good mouldings.
THE TOWN HALL.--The old Hall stood on the open space in the Market Place
in front of the Exchange Hall. It was a plain brick building, standing on
arcading, forming a Market Hall on the ground floor, and it has been
re-erected in Cherwell Street as a warehouse. The first Hall was built in
Queen Mary's reign, 1556. The Hall of to-day, built in 1853, was enlarged
in 1892. Portraits of Mr. Tancred, the late High Steward (Lord Saye and
Sele), and Aldermen Draper and Barford are hung in the Court Room.
Formerly a good painting by Hayn had a place there.
The Horton Infirmary, presented to the town by the late Miss Horton, of
Middleton Cheney, and her nephew, J. H. Horton, Esq., is on the Oxford
Road. Two Corn Exchanges existed in the Corn Hill and Market Place; one
has become an Inn with covered court yard, the other is used as a Theatre
but is also used for corn sales on Thursdays; Christ Church, St. John's
Priory and Church, the Wesleyan Chapels, and the various other
denominational places of worship, do not admit of full description.
* * * * *
BROUGHTON CASTLE, the old seat of Lord Saye and Sele, now the residence of
Lord Algernon Gordon Lennox, is about two and a half miles to the westward
of Banbury. The older parts are at the east end, and comprise a chapel,
several small rooms and groined passages, and an embattled and loopholed
tower, all of early decorated or 14th century work. The chapel contains a
geometrical window and stone altar. Both north and south fronts, together
with a wooden inner lobby at the entrance to the drawing room, are figured
in Skelton's "Antiquities of Oxfordshire." The north front, of the date
1544, is best seen from the meadow adjoining the Broughton Road. In the
hall, dining and drawing rooms, are rich plaster ceilings of a half
century later. The moat, which still encircles the castle grounds, is
spanned by a modern bridge with a turretted gatehouse of early 15th
century work. The outbuildings on the east side of the gatehouse are of
contemporaneous date. The embattled wall on the west side is part of the
original castle, and belongs to an early part of the 14th century. In the
hall are portraits of Charles I. and Cromwell, by Dobson, and in other
parts of the building works by Westall, Dorcy, and Gainsborough. A large
historical painting of Lord Saye before Jack Cade (Shakespeare's King
Henry VI., pt. 2, sc. 7) formerly hung at the end of the drawing room.
After the Edge Hill fight, Banbury surrendered to the Royalists, who
attacked Broughton on the following day. The Castle, with wool-sacked
windows, stood siege for a day, and then it is said to have been taken by
Prince Rupert. There is little or no evidence to show the phases of the
fight, but when it is remembered that the Fiennes' in the vale of the Red
Horse were within an hour's ride, and that Ramsay and some of his troops
found a way to Banbury on the Sunday, it would point to the probability of
fierce defence. Bretch Cave, on the Banbury Road, has the common repute
of being a secret passage to the Castle, and perhaps some sally port of
the kind may have a tale to tell.
[Illustration: BROUGHTON CASTLE.]
The two paper mills on the borders of the Broughton estate, the Woad Mill
and the Fulling Mill, together with the settlements of the plush and other
weavers near by, point to surroundings of industry connected, it must be
believed, with the old house.
BROUGHTON CHURCH (ST. MARY'S) is a beautiful church of good Early English
work with a broach spire. The nave is on the north side of the church; the
south aisle appears to end as a chapelry. As a place of sepulture of so
many of the Fiennes' family, it is enriched by their tombs and those of
others of the house. The tomb of John de Broughton (circa 1306) is in a
richly decorated and canopied niche in the south wall. The high corner
tomb is that of Edward Fiennes (1528) and that near by with the effigy of
the Knight is believed to be of the father, Richard Fiennes (1501). In the
chancel are the rich alabaster effigies of Sir Thomas Wykham and wife
(circa 1441), and also plain tombs of Wm. Viscount Saye and Sele and wife
(dated 1642-1648).[7] The stone chancel screen with incised diaper
ornament, and the exceedingly well proportioned windows, place the good
work of the church amongst the typical gothic of the country side:
especially to be noticed are the geometrical tracery of the east window of
the south aisle; the south window with later perpendicular shafting; the
south chancel window and the square-headed early English windows of the
south wall. There is a finely crocketed ogee west door and plain south
porch.
WROXTON ABBEY or PRIORY, 3 miles north-west of Banbury, was founded by
Michael Belet; it passed into the hands of Sir Thos. Pope after the
troubles of the Reformation time, and thence by marriage to the Earls
Guildford and North. It is the seat of Lord North, and is famed for its
beautifully terraced gardens and park. The chapel, which is supposed to
date from the time of King John, contains a window in the Decorated style,
with old glass, and the carved woodwork is of the best in the
neighbourhood. The other part of the mansion was re-built in 1618,
excepting a wing which has been added within the last few years. On the
west front is a good porch, in the Italian style, of the time of James I.
The principal features of the hall are the carved woodwork of the gallery,
the fireplace, and the stag's head brackets and pendants. The ceiling of
the dining-room is a beautiful specimen of the classical work of the
Stuart period. Amongst the paintings are some portraits by Vandyke,
Holbein, Jansen and Kneller, and landscapes by Wouvermans, Hobbema, and
others. The famous "Garden Party," by Watteau, is one of the collection.
King James and King Charles I. visited Wroxton, the latter at the time of
the meeting of the King and Queen at Kineton in the year following the
battle of Edge Hill. A medal was struck to commemorate the meeting.
Pleasant paths to Banbury and Broughton lead across the fields.
ALL SAINTS' CHURCH, WROXTON, is of plain Gothic style. The chief points of
interest are a good decorated font, two sedilia, and a tomb with effigies
of Sir W. and Lady Pope, erected about the middle of the 17th century.
ADDERBURY.--Altitudes: high town 342, low town 300; population, 1132;
3-1/4 miles south of Banbury. It retains its old mansions and homesteads
and the wide margin of its ways to a fuller degree than other villages in
the north of the shire. The old rectory house, the manor house, formerly
Lord Rochester's home, and others on the south side of the green, are good
buildings. Nothing remains of the Cross once standing on the green, and of
Sir Thos. Cobb's famous house there remain but the gateways and kitchen.
The village during the time of the Great Rebellion was held as a Royalist
outpost in the Banbury area. Mr. Wilmot, afterwards Lord Rochester, with
his local troops of horse fought on the left wing of the Royalists' Army
at Edge Hill. A cavalry fight took place during the war near Bodicot, on
the Banbury road, when Fiennes had some success.
ST. MARY'S CHURCH is remarkable for its elegant chancel, built by William
of Wykeham. The chancel windows are in the early style of perpendicular
architecture, and are fine illustrations of the architect's skill. His
arms are to be seen above the exterior of the east window. The north door
is in the decorated style, and is rich in mouldings and crocketed
canopies. A good example of perpendicular work is to be seen in the
square-headed vestry door. The spire dates from the 14th century, and is
massive and imposing. The frieze under the cornice of the north wall is
filled with grotesque sculpture. In the interior, the timber roof of the
nave, the clustered columns, and the sedilia and piscina are excellent
specimens of work of the decorated period.
HANWELL.--Altitudes: 476-416; population, 176; 3 miles north-west of
Banbury. The village winds in one long street down-hill. It rests on the
ferruginous red rock of the Middle Lias. Midway in the village an old oak
tree covered the village stocks and the outflow of an aquaduct, probably
the Saint Ann's Well of past time. Pleasant footways follow the hill side
on the north to Shotteswell and on the south to Banbury. When King Charles
took the Castle after the battle of Edge Hill it would seem that it was
not without a fight. An old rhyme runs:
Hornton in the hollow,
Long Horley on the hill,
Frowsty little Drayton,
Bloody Hanwell hill.
HANWELL CASTLE during its tenure as a farm house lost much of its old work
in successive alterations. Two massive octagonal turrets and the facing of
the west front remain of the old building. The right-handed stairway, a
flight of eighty steps in the north turret, is of very thorough Hornton
stone work, but the turrets and front are of the good flat red brick in
use in Tudor time, with stone quoins. It would appear that the right hand
stairway lent itself better to defensive uses; the upper rooms are entered
from the turret stair. In the angle of the south turret a small room shows
some old oak panelling, and in an adjoining room a hearth and chimney
piece of local stone are in the south-east angle. The once "gallant
house of Hanwell," and, according to Dr. Plot, the home of Sir Anthony
Cope, the most eminent artist and naturalist, may be seen figured as in
its original state by Skelton in his "Antiquities of Oxfordshire," who
says the mansion was quadrangular with two towers at each angle. The
stonework of the doorways of the room adjoining the south entrance and
most of the masonry of the west side has been preserved. The Copes came
into early possession of the Hanwell estate, and John Cope, cofferer to
King Henry VIII., built the house which was so well spoken of by Leland.
In Tudor and Stuart times they were busy politicians, and James I. and his
Queen are said to have visited the Castle. The Copes were with the people
in the time of the Great Rebellion, and after Edge Hill the Castle was
taken by the Royalists. Subsequently Sir Anthony Cope found residence for
the eminent Puritan pastors Harris and Dod, who, with Whateley of Banbury,
ministered to enlarge the religious zeal of the neighbourhood. The pool
and plantation lie to the east of the grounds, and the plantation below is
worth mention from the number of rare plants found therein, amongst them
the Bistort, Lungwort, Green Hellebore, and Saracen's Woundwort.
[Illustration: HANWELL CASTLE.]