North Oxfordshire’s Secret Villages Just Beyond the Cotswolds | Wardington, Cropredy & More

Just outside the boundaries of the Cotswolds AONB, hiding in North Oxfordshire near the bustling town of Banbury sits a whole group of villages built from a very unique golden ironstone – join us for a complete tour as we discover the history and secrets of these ancient settlements.

Starting in Wardington, we visit such gems as Williamscot, Cropredy, Hanwell, Horley, Shutford, Shennington, Alkerton, South Newington, and Banbury itself!

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Hi there everyone and welcome to the cotsworld Explorer I’m Robin chakra and it’s great to be back after a few months in forced Hiatus over the Christmas period of 20234 today you find Ross widget Gizmo and me in that cotwell hinter Land north of Oxford not really cotsworld at all

Built of the red Ironstone which is so incredible to look at we couldn’t resist the diversion that and the fact that the Valley of the Chell is full of great little villages with fascinating stories to tell we’re heading up the a361 from Banbury to which we will return soon

Towards daventry to visit the village of wardington as we near the village through which this road passes we climb a hill called calabos Hill it gets its unusual name from an Italian clock maker Evans tells us a story as follows calabo was an Italian watchmaker who had left his native soil to escape

The conscription of Napoleon and had been settled in Banbury for 40 years he was a familiar figure in the Villages and farmhouses of the district which he was in the habit of visiting periodically to men the clocks and to sell his famous weather glasses at last in the Autumn of 1851 a

Nephew arrived from Italy to assist him in his business and it was understood that the old man looked upon him as his successor young cago however seems to have thought that waiting for dead men’s shoes was tedious work and one evening in the following winter as they were

Coming down this hill on return from one of their rounds he drew a pistol and shot his uncle dead he then hurried into bamry with a story that they’ been set upon by foot pads and that old calabo had been killed suspicion however fastened upon the real culprit the murder was clearly brought

Home to him and he was hanged at Oxford Castle tipping our metaphorical hats to poor old calbero we continue North a short way where we find the village we’re searching for until very recently there were two distinct settlements here at walington they’re officially known as upper and lower warington but the very recent

Building of the houses at Mount Pleasant the memorial Village Hall and the greenswood housing estate have joined upper and lower together some older residents refer to the two settlements as ashry end for the main village of low wardington and Old Barn end for for upper wardington after

Its beautiful Old Barn to the southwest of the village lower wardington contains the church so was probably always the principal settlement and the church also acted as Parish church for the village of williamscot locally pronounced wilscot which we will visit briefly in a while the ash tree after which lower

Warington is named by some is historically famous despite the fact that it is long since gone the way of all things as the tree beneath which King Charles I dined on the day of the battle of Croy the site of which battle we will also be visiting shortly there are several buildings of

Note in this Village the bar we’ve already mentioned on the a361 itself is wardington house built in 1785 as an inn it has an inscription over the door which reads this house was built upon on the place only as a mark of Grace and for an inn to entertain its Lord a while

But not Remain the building was turned into a private house in the 20th century and is now a private nursing home but the most spectacular house is about a quarter of a mile south Southwest of the village called wardington Manor this beautiful house has had a checkered history falling into disrepair

On several occasions during its long life but with amazing Good Fortune it has had a string of owners who have restored and repaired it with respect and sensitivity it is particularly famous for its interior which of course we will never get to see and in particular for its extensive and Luscious 20th century

Plaster work carried out in the 1920s by Mrs Molly Wells the current owner of this estate which includes a wonderful walled kitchen Garden as well as several Acres of formal Garden run a hugely successful Cut Flower business supplying the grandest and most exclusive flower shops in London as well as operating a flower

Bucket system for Discerning locals Garden designers by calling it’s hard to imagine a safer set of hands for a house like this to be in of the several pubs that used to exist in this Village only two Remain the hair and Hounds which belongs to the local hook Norton Brewery and the plow

Which unless I’m very much mistaken belongs to a company set up by the villagers to stop it going the way so many thousands of our PBS have gone in recent years and getting turned into a private house we wish them all the luck in the world but if their online reviews or

Anything to go by they are making a fine job of it and don’t really need our good wishes the Church of St Mary Magdalene consists of chancell Nave North and South Isles a vestri on the north side of the charel South Chapel South porch and an embattled West

Tower the earliest features of the building date from the 12th century for example the southern respond of the 12th century chancell Arch remains embedded in the wall behind the pulpit the South aisle which retains its original doorway and two three light lanet Windows is narrower than the North

Aisle which is slightly later in date the greater width of the northern aisle was probably determined by the presence of a 12th century transcept at its East End early in the 14th century new windows were inserted in the chancel and at the East End of the north aisle the

Clester was also constructed in the 14th century but the two easternmost windows on the South Side were replaced by larger three light windows in the 15th century the West Tower was added before the end of the 14th century and the vest was built in the 15th until 1915 it had

An upper room or Loft reached by a ladder the main fabric including the chancel was restored between 1887 and 1889 in accordance with the plans of the appropriately named Yuan Christian the floor was relay a new seats substituted for what Christian described as huge Square pews and other expositions of bad

Taste an eagle lecon carved by The Village Carpenter one Mr Bonham was installed and also a new Oak Pulpit a small round window above the chancell arch was filled with stained glass representing St Mary Magdalene now the restoration was not entirely well done the new chancel roof

Was heavier than the old and the chancel foundations had already been seriously undermined by the insertion of coffins and in 1913 cracks began to appear in the chancel walls then the ceiling of the lower story of the Vester fell in further work was therefore carried out on the vestri

Chancel and Chapel in 1915 at considerable cost and later more money was spent on the tower clester windows and chanc Arch the tower was extensively refaced and buttresses were added at the end of the chancel simply to hold the walls up the octagonal font Bears the letters RM RS and the date

1666 in the South IA two rather wonderful medieval tomb recesses the South Chapel contains a monument to George Denton who died in 1757 and four floor slabs two of them are morial to members of the Chamberlain family the East window of the chapel was formerly blocked up but was restored as

A memorial to John Lord wardington who died in 1950 and whose son the second Lord warington sold the above mentioned and wardington Manor to its current owners the church has a six Bell peel and there are mixed dates from 1669 to 1841 all originally came from The baggley Foundry in nearby

Chum the bells were rehung in 1899 heading back down calero’s hill on our way to Cy for Tales of an heroic Civil War battle we passed through the village of williamscot or wilmut as it’s called it’s a pretty little village set around a Village Green but it’s a shadow

Of its former self until the mid 19th century it was a thriving Community with shops ins a blacksmith and a cottage in which Charles I first supposedly slept after the battle of certy unfortunately the village fell into Decline and 35 buildings including several farmhouses and all of the above

Mentioned businesses were demolished and now it is a pretty residential settlement relying entirely on its neighboring Villages for services it’s worth a brief visit however as the extraordinary Stone from which its Cottages are built gives the place a special atmosphere you find Ross widget Gizmo and me in the extremely famous Village of

C Fame is of course relative this Village is famous for a critical battle in the Civil War of the 1640s it’s always fun to go over the ground of a great battle and see if it’s possible to get a feeling of how it all panned out cty is easier to Invision than

Many of all the many descriptions of the battle I’ve now read I found that none described the events more clearly than our old favorite Herbert Evans allbe it written over a cent ago who was at his best when delving into the details of a good

Battle so I’m going to read to you the passage from his highways and byways in Oxford and the cotwell while Ross flies his drone and wields his camera around the existing Village to show you how little or how much has really changed over the centuries firstly however we’ll visit

The beautiful old church of St Mary which is mostly decorative or perpendicular in style with a tower topped by battlements and a 19th century stair turret there are lovely four bay arcades in the Nave giving the church a great sense of space it contains two octagonal fonts one highly decorated from the 19th

Century and the other much older probably Norman but roughly reshaped to make it octagonal and originally decked with brass plates on the flat surfaces gone now but the holes of the fastenings are still visible above the vestri there was a priest’s chamber the windows of which

Now open onto the North Chapel on one side and two others onto the South aisle the lecturn is extremely unusual in this part of the world outside Oxford pre-reformation so somehow hidden from the iconic clasts and restored to the church later its brass eagle sits on a

Globe and its base is supported by lions you will also find the remnants of a 15th century painting of the last judgment above the chanc of arch another rare Survivor but enough of this wonderful building let’s get to battle evans’s description starts as follows as he makes his way from hanwell

My road now leads me down through the village to the top of the Borton Hill overlooking the Green Valley of the chowel from this Vantage ground on the morning of June the 29th 1644 Sir William Waller watched the Royal Army marching northwards on the other side of the

River this maneuver had been executed by the king with the view of drawing the Parliamentary General from the strong position which he occupied on Crouch Hill South of banry and so bringing him to an engagement in this as we shall see he was successful so William on his part was no

Less anxious to fight than the king his troops were merely volunteers composed of the London trained bands and Country levies all heartedly tired of soldiering and eager to get back to their homes they had not like the men on the other side taken up arms with any idea of

Entering the service as a profession and the experience of this day convinced that General that nothing short of a radical Reformation in this respect could ensure the ultimate success of the Parliamentary Cause yet a decisive Advantage might help to keep his men together for a time and we may well believe that it was with an anxious heart that he surveyed the enemy separated from him only by the village of certy and the bridge over the chowell which was to give its name to

That day’s fight at last he saw his opportunity for some reason unknown to him the van and center of the royal columns had hurried forward above the bridge leaving the rear in an isolated position below it how this had come to pass we shall see directly but for a

Moment we will leave him and descending the hill pass through the village to the bridge and Survey the field of battle for ourselves two centuries and a half have rolled away since then but the general features of the landscape have altered little there is the venerable Church

Itself more than 300 years old on the day when the battle was fought and there are the clustered roofs of the Cottages Brown thatch or gray tile looking much as they did then for in these old world Villages fashion change but slowly there the Little River comes

Bending round beneath the church on its way from Edge cut which Charles had quitted nearly two years earlier in the gray dawn of an October morning passing over this very bridge on his march to Kiton field and there half a mile Downstream is the Slate Mill and its

Ancient Ford a passage to be contested today as hotly as the bridge itself I say today for in endeavoring to recall the scenes of a vanished time the fancy is prone to fall into the present but in sober Earnest it is a bright Summer’s evening in the 20th century and an aged

Countryman is leaning over the wooden parit of the bridge in the contemplative mood that bespeaks the close of the labors of the day yes he has heard of the fighting it was only 9 or 10 years ago that his son was at work on the widening of the

Bridge and picked up bullets and other Curiosities in the bed of the stream and hence he appin that here on the bridge they’ve finished it up but he loves better to talk of things within his own recollection of the coal which he used to cast to Edge cut and

Other outlying Villages before the new Railway came or of the great families of the neighborhood some of whom alas were and teas and had let their Estates at a mighty sum of one of the most interesting relics he does not tell me this is a small bugle shaped whistle of silver

Attached by Two Chains to a ring which must have been lost in the course of the struggle by some officer it was discovered in grubbing up a hedge some 50 years since and is now in the possession of Mr love day of Williams good house hard by slate Mill whose

Ancestor Captain love day served in the king’s Army and it may be in this very battle to that June morning we must now return Eastward from the bridge the ground rises in the direction of the village of wardington and on the summit on this side of the daventry road there stands

An ash tree the successor of a famous tree known as the wardington ash which perished of natural Decay more than a century ago Charles had reached this spot and was dining beneath the shade of this stately tree when news was brought to him that a party of 300 horse was

Advancing from the north to join the forces of the enemy he at once gave orders that the van and Center should push forward and cut them off but in the hurry of the moment no notice was sent to the rear guard which was at some little distance behind together with the Cavalry

Brigades of the Earl of Northampton and the Earl of Cleveland this oversight as we have seen Waller’s eye had not been slow to detect here was the chance he had been waiting for and he forth with dispatched a strong party of horse and foot to cross the bridge and take the royalist

Rear guard in front while another body of horse was ordered to pass the river by the Ford at slate Mill and fall upon them from behind the former easily drove back from the bridge the drons whom the king had posted there earlier in the day and clattering across were advancing to

Attack the leading division when they were brought up by a gallant charge of the Earl of Cleveland and driven back by the way they had come before long however they rallied and got themselves into order for a second advance but by this time the king alarmed by the noise of the melee had

Halted and realizing the State of Affairs sent Lord Bernard Stewart in all haste to the assistance of the rear meanwhile and before Stuart could reach him Cleveland had formed his Brigade on the hill around the wardington ash but only to find the hedges within gunshot of him lined with

The enemy both horse and foot this says an eyewitness caused him suddenly to advance the rebels doing the like and having stoutly stood out their musket and carbine shot he gave command to charge and by his singular Valor and resolution seced by the officers of his Brigade he routed all those horse and

Foot and chased them beyond their Cannon all which being 11 pieces were then taken and two barricades of wood drawn with wheels in each seven small brass and leathern guns charged with case shot many of the enemy were slain and many prisoners taken the rest were driven pel Mell over the

Bridge this however the L was unable to carry and was therefore compelled to fall back having lost on his side two Gallant gentlemen of Kent Sir William Butler and Sir William Clark and says my authority not above 14 soldiers more meanwhile the Earl of Northampton had been equally successful against the

Party who had crossed by the Ford scarcely had they made their way across and begun to threaten his rear when he faced about and forced them to a speedy flight over the pass I.E the Ford but with little loss they not being willing to abide a second

Charge it was now 3:00 in the afternoon and the fighting was practically at an end the advantage lay with the King but he was unable to push it further he secured the Ford and the mill but the enemy held grimly to the bridge and all his efforts to dislodge them were in vain

Wallow was worsted but far from annihilated and for the rest of the day and the whole of the next the armies lay facing each other on either side of the chel the king sleeping both nights at a very poor man’s house at williamscot early on Monday morning intelligence having arrived that a large

Force Under Major General Brown was advancing to join Waller char Charles deemed it expedient to fall back upon AO and dington at dington he lay at the parsonage house probably the fine house already mentioned on the north side of the churchyard and on the following day he set out for

Eam but whatever hopes he may have built upon the discomfort of Waller was soon to be dashed as he was marching with colors flying through the pleasant oxf villages on that fatal 2nd of July another scene was being enacted in the north and he was soon to be met by the disastrous

Tidings of the defeat of maren Moore well leaving cery now for a small village just a little Way West called hanwell here we will find an ancient castellated house we’ll come across some young social media enthusiasts who are much amused by such a geriatric YouTuber and hopefully turn them on to

The wonders of medieval churches it’s a beautiful little place with a surprising and exciting Church the other thing is it’s got the remnants of a wonderful Castle this time actually above ground we’re going to show you around come with me for the description of this lovely Village I’m going to rely mainly on

Herbert Evans our invaluable guide around the highways in byways of Oxford and the cotwell and of whose brilliant book our cotwell Explorer Edition has just recently been published available indeed on the link in the description of this video in his telling of the story of hanwell he is at his brilliant gossipy

Best describing the families who’ve lived here over the centur Ries with his usual learned and astute historical mind his illustrator Frederick Griggs also clearly fell for the place and produced a lovely drawing of what was left at the castle before that however I want to relate a cheering tale of my

Own when we arrived outside the church we met a small group of young people who were cycling around exploring the village I gather that were staying the weekend with friends and looked to an old fellow like me anyway as if they were in their early teens they all had phones of course and

They were busy filming and photographing the scenery and posting their images on the usual platforms needless to say I was a perfect Target for mild ridicule and they pointed their phones in my direction with comments like what do you want to say to our followers then one of them noticed the

Little Black Bob on my chest and said hey are you miked up such a 21st century question that is I was really much amused and I explained we had just been in the church filming the beautiful things inside and they asked me if they were allowed to go in slightly depressing thoughts that

They may have thought they weren’t anyway after a brief lecture from me about respect for the place they left their bikes and gear in a pile outside and went in half an hour later they’d still not reappeared and I like to think that I’ve started off a whole new generation of church

Lovers they would have found some excellent things to look at a late Norman font with a wooden jackban cover a modern 20th century Stone Pulpit the open mechanism of the turret clock TI kicking away as it has since 1671 and an amazing Alabaster Effigy Of sir antthony and Lady cope of whom more

Later as well as her selection of the cope ferial armor all rare and excellent pieces of interest to young boys and girls I do hope they enjoyed themselves and so to Evans and part of his description of this lovely place hanwell lies across the valley to the

West and a Bend to the right after entering the village brings us face to face with a massive Tower of brick with stone coins and large Stone Mion Windows now blocked up it reminds us of the almost contemporary work at Hampton Court or of some of the college gate houses at

Cambridge this Tower is is the sole surviving one of four which stood at Each corner of the Mansion for three centuries the seat of the Cope Family it is built by William cope cofferer of the household to Henry the 7th who died in 1513 and was buried at

Bamby his tomb of black marble shared the fate of that church in 1790 and after lying there for 27 7 years his body was again exposed to the light and of course immediately crumbled to dust this was indeed an age in which the spirit of destruction ramped unchecked in this

Neighborhood some 10 years previous to the demolition of the Church of Banbury hanwell Castle was wly pulled down and nothing left but this Tower and part of the adjoining buildings The Remains are now used as a farmhouse on the east side sloping down to the valley are the once well-kept

Terrace Gardens and fish bonds one of the latter alone is left and the whole has a strangely pathetic wistful air of desolation yet here in Henry the E’s time lived Sir Anthony cope courtier traveler scholar and writer here his grandson another Sir Anthony kept a hospitable house in the Old

English style counting even royalty among his guests here the latter’s son Sir William again entertained his Sovereign and here in the days of a third St Anthony were hatched some of the schemes which led to the Happy restoration of his late Majesty King Charles II it’s so beautifully done that it sort of

Covers the centuries but what is interesting is that those fish ponds and Lawns and Gardens are no longer by any means desolate they are beautifully kept and I don’t know who lives in this lovely place now but it is quite clearly much loved we enjoyed ourselves in this lovely little

Village I think it’s worth a visit I do hope you’ve enjoyed our little spin round handwork I’m standing here in the sunshine of an English summer with moan lawns all around me a beautiful medieval church and even the remains of a glorious ancient castle it’s almost beyond belief really it’s an extraordinar beautiful

Place from hamell we travel a short distance only to Hy where we will discover a slightly embarrassing connection to my mother’s family family and a wonderful wall painting of St Christopher here we are in the wonderful Village of Hy this church is extraordinary we’re having a lovely time as you know in this

Extraordinary part of the kwells which is really just on the fringes of the cots where this Golden Stone is all over the place where just a couple of miles from Edge Hill which is our destination in the next few days um this is a lovely village with an extraordinary church and

A wonderful depiction of St Christopher obviously the patron saint of Travelers therefore very appropriate for us we’re going to show you around come with me the name hly means Village on a peninsula of land because it sits between two streams the village is Saxon in origin medieval hly belonged in part to the

Cathedral of Lincoln which explains why such a small village has two manor houses bramel was the lay Manor and holy Manor was the pendal manor the latter changed hands many times over the centuries and to my astonishment I discover that it belonged for a short time to one of my Brett ancestors about

Which to be honest I shall remain a little koi it seems to have been a gift from the first Duke of Buckingham who ran during the Reigns of James the first and Charles first what was probably the most corrupt government in English History he dispensed patronage to his relations

With great abandon they were known as the Kindred and included even remote members of his family the bretts were his first cousins and benefited substantially hle however remained in Bret hands for a very short time as the estate was quickly divided and sold on o is one of oxfordshire’s most Northerly

Villages with its Parish boundary at one point doubling as the county boundary with warshire and the Norman Tower of the Parish Church St Ethel readers sits at the highest point of the village watching over a population of about 300 as you enter this lovely unrestored Church through the South door you are

Confronted by a large Fresco of St Christopher on the wall of the north Isle the saint as usual is represented as carrying the infant Christ across a stream upon his shoulders to whom he says what art thou and art so young bore I never so heavy a thing and the answer

Is yay I be heavy no wonder is for I am the king of bliss these images were not uncommon they were always large and and in situations where they might easily be seen for it was an ancient belief that whosoever had seen the figure would not die that day any sudden or accidental

Death thus making it impossible to give a final confession this one however is certainly the best preserved in the county and possibly the whole country the continued existence of this war painting and a couple of others in this church confirm the impression that the area through which we’re moving

At the moment was much less brutally affected by the iconic clastic times of the dissolution however some of the exciting discoveries in this church are not as old as they look in 1947 T Lawrence Dale carried out a remarkable refitting had installed the rude Loft with its canopy a lovely lecon

And pulpit and a painted candelabrum Stone altars were provided for both Isle chapels the South contains a Walsingham Madonna by John Allenby the lovely chamber organ made by John Irvine and apparently dated 1765 is supposed to have once belong to the composer George Frederick handle but

I’m pretty sure handle died in the 17 50s so it’s unlikely perhaps it’s another handle this Village shows all the signs of a busy well-kept Community thriving in every way even having an excellent Village website keeping everyone in the village informed shortly after arriving we met a

Local resident who explained that he had only just recently moved to the Village having been forced away from his last home by encroaching development but that he had already made many friends and was hugely flattered by the welcome he and his wife had received from The Villages perhaps a sign of the strength

Of this community is the continued existence of an exceptional trust fund founded by Michael Harding in 1627 the trust established a school and provided an education to Village children for some 400 years it’s true the trust has had ups and downs at one stage the building at

The core of the Legacy supposed to provide a school room needed to be completely rebuilt but for the sum of just over £1 13 that shows how long ago it was its rebuilding was achieved and paid for by the trust’s income more recently children from the orphanage in Roxton Lane attended the

School as did evacuees from East London who lived in Hy during World War II the school closed in 1969 and now the Michael Harding trust maintains it as a rural studies Center for visiting school children and as a village hall we’re heading now for the village of shutford

I’ve Been chastised by some of the residents of shutford for expressing concern about its current state it’s a village with a fascinating history and perhaps I saw it on a bad day there are lots of interesting things to see however and I hope my optimism for the future of the village comes

Through despite the depressing sight of yet another closed Village Pub as you enter the village of shutford what strikes you first and foremost is the collection of obviously ancient buildings on the steep slope of the Hill which create a roofscape perhaps more expected in Europe than in England the

Buildings include the church the manor house and the pub all on different levels creating the impression of a sort of medieval skyscraper in much the same way as the coastal Villages of for example liua rise from the sea roofscapes are always interesting and the cotwell stone roof tiles why

They haven’t been replaced by slates or were still red tiles give the buildings a natural look that somehow links them to the ground from which they spring initial impressions are encouraging in this little village then you notice that the p is no longer open for business a bad sign in a community like

This it’s particularly bad if the pub is physically right in the middle of the village and form such a critical part of its architectural Integrity I had read that the village had a difficult time in the 1970s lots of empty and deric Cottages businesses that had cease to trade and a

Community in trouble but since that time huge efforts have been made made to improve shutford and certainly by the turn of the Millennium The Village was on the up the pub was integral to this effort and it had a reputation at least as a center for the community I wonder what’s

Happened this Village has an unusual past the manor house was built by the fines family in about 1585 although they never seem to have lived in it which is perhaps not surprising as Sir Richard fines was at the same time doing considerable work on Bron Castle a few miles away to bring it

Up to Modern standards there are stories that Sir Richard secretly drilled and trained his parliamentary soldiers in the top floor of shutford Manor which at that time was a single room of vast proportions but again the same stories are told of the castle so of course it’s

Possible that only one such story is true we know that in July 1980 The Manor celebrated its 400th anniversary when its American owners threw a party for the whole village including an Elizabethan banquet music and a generous supply of local beer these days it’s a little difficult

To see the Mana which in an age of mass tourism is not really surprising but its Gardens are obviously well-kept and much loved I’m not sure I can quite say the same thing about the village as a whole there is such a difficult balance to be achieved in villages like this

Between overg grooming to create a sort of chocolate box picturesque result and an unkempt look that suggests lack of love and commitment I get a sneaking feeling that this Village is on the verge of tipping into the latter although the fate of the pub could turn out to be critical in

Avoiding this happening certainly shutford has centuries of experience of coming back from the brink at one stage for at least 200 years up until 1948 The Village was the world’s leading producer of plush a specialist weave of silk wool and cotton used amongst many other things to line

Coaches their work can still be seen in some of the fleet of royal coaches there is little or no sign of this World beating industry left in the village to tell the story the church is a simple and pretty 12 Century Church largely rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries the unusual

Position of the tower in the West End of the north aisle adds to the complicated roofscape outside the 13th century chancel Arch is pretty the Norman font octagonal with blind arches in each face it’s tall pews with poppy heads and good commandment boards from about the same time on the

Walls its matching pulpit and screen from about 1898 are all present to the eye but perhaps because they are between incumbant at the moment which is a situation likely to remain for quite a long time given the recruitment processes in the Church of England the whole is looking just a little bit

Unloved rather like the rest of the village having said all of that though I must underline that the village remains an attractive place to visit in passing without too great in expectation but with hope that the community rallies round and stops any sign of decline in its tracks we’re traveling a short distance

Now to the Village of shenington where we discover the village still follows some very ancient Traditions but a church that left me a little confed fused and then after that across the valley to its sister Village of alaton where the contrast is Stark here the Church of St Michael is truly

Unspoiled now we’re still in this extraordinary area with this dark red Ironstone building going on around us it’s lovely here this is a classic Village layout we’re recording this with a mower in the background because it’s seems so appropriate you can’t smell it but I can the smell of freshly cut grass

In the summer in England it is incomparable I just want to read you one sentence of what Evans says about this place it’s about the church and it makes me a little nervous and I’ll tell you why later he says shenington is one of the villages in which the custom of strewing the

Church with grass or rushes at witson tide is is still kept up now that it has to be said is enough to draw us here we’re going to show you around come with me the reason for my slight nervousness is this last Wednesday before we knew we were coming here to shenington to

Investigate their wits and traditions I read for the Wednesday poem slot a poem called the fairies by the Irishman William allingham which tells the story of the fairies who kidnapped a small girl as I was reading it I was reminded of a short piece of something written in

1888 by Lady Jane Francesca wild that went as follows witson tide is a very fatal and unlucky time especially beware of water then for there is an evil spirit in it and no one should venture to bathe nor to sail in a boat for fear of being

Drowned nor to go a journey where water has to be crossed and everything in the house must be sprinkled with holy water at witsen tide to keep away the fairies who at that season are very active and malicious and bewitch the cattle and carry off the young children and come up

From the sea to hold strange midnight Rebels when they kill with their fairies darts the unhappy mortal who crosses their path and PRI at their Mysteries H okay I’ll try not to pry I know the connections are a little tenuous but coincidences make me nervous anyway we know that the

Tradition of strewing the church with grass is carried on to this day and is possibly unique to shenington as in the small number of churches else swear that something similar is done they use reads not grass May or more specifically the witson and Trinity period is the time

For the annual strewing of grass in the church something Christopher Hain from shenington and his forefathers have been doing since the 1800s and maybe even longer the practice probably dates back to the Middle Ages when the earth and flaw would have been covered with rushes these would have been changed

Once a year and certainly in the spring the first record of grass string in shenington is in 1720 but we know that the village records prior to that were destroyed by fire so we can believe that the tradition stems from well before then Christopher says we use the same

Size to cut the grass by hand that’s been used for Generations no one else really knows how to use it the grass comes from an area within the churchyard itself which is why it’s kept so long before May the longer the grass the better it

Lays and so we will wander down the tree covered lane from the Magnificent Village Green toward the church with the scent of freshly moan grass in our nostrils to see if we can get a feeling as to why this church inspires such loyalty to tradition I am I’m afraid

Prepared for a bit of a disappointment Evans continues his comments about this church with this scathing sentence the visitor however who is led to hope that a church which preserves this old custom must have preserved all else that should be preserved will be disappointed it will be enough to say

That the fine Norman chancell Arch has been taken down and actually put up again in the north wall of the chancel his indignation jumps out from the page now I have to admit that this church does confuse me a lot its proportions are clumsy and it has been restored so much

And so often that it has no real feeling of any particular period the Norman Arch is actually very beautiful indeed but it feels peculiar housing the organ Loft the High Gothic Arch supporting the east side of the tower feels particularly out of scale I’m afraid on this occasion I’m on Evan’s

Side he decided to move hastily on and we will do the same a nice little Blast Of Sunshine to let me tell you we’ve had a really nice time walking around Shen and it’s been delightful but we’re now going to cross the valley just a few hundred yards to

Its sister Village of alcaton come with us whilst there is no denying the beauty of the village of shenington alcaton is perhaps even more picturesque the Church of St Michael is truly unspoiled around the outside of the church is a cornice ornamented with figures in relief the figures on the

South Side have been taken to represent the life of a man and local tradition goes a step further in affirming that the man in question is the black prince even pointing to his triumphant entry into London on his return from the French Wars right next to the church is the

Venerable jacoban rectory built by alcon’s most celebrated Rector Thomas lyat the son of the lord of the manor of alcaton scholar of Winchester fellow of new college and a writer of European reputation in addition to the Divinity he devoted himself to the study of astronomy and chronology he recommended himself to

Henry Prince of Wales who appointed him his chronograph and cosmographer and would have promoted him to higher honors had he lived but the prince’s early death in 1612 put an end to his hopes and he accepted the rectory of his native Village of which his father was the

Patron in this retired spot he gave himself up to his studies and published many learned scientific treatises now I don’t expect you’ll be tempted to make the acquaintance of his Works although they can be found in the dictionary of national biography but you might be more interested in the fortunes

Or rather misfortunes of the author who after all his toil is best known Now by Johnson’s famous lines in the vanity of human wishes there mark what ills the scholars life as saale toil Envy want the patron and the jail see Nations slowly wise and meanly just to buried Merit raise the tardy

Bust if dreams yet flatter once again attend here lat’s life and Galileo’s end in fact lyette had at one time generously pledged himself as security for her brother’s debts and being unable to find the money he was imprisoned first at Badoo in Oxford and afterwards in the king’s bench until the warden of

New college and other influential friends subscribed for his release nor was this the only experience of duress a staunch royalist he suffered plunder and imprisonment at the hands of the RADS and returned to alcaton so infamously used by the soldiers that his health was seriously affected he died at alaton in April

1646 and was buried in the chancellor of the church enjoy this lovely little church with its elegant little 12th century tab font its good pews pulpit and stalls all by the same hand and an early 13th century Effy of a knight with a shield badly weathered but no doubt originally

In very low relief as the feet are stretched out flat this really is a cotw old gem now to the nearby Village of swall Cliffe where the star of the sh is very definitely a breathtaking half crck Barn probably one of the finest you will ever see the village of swalcliffe gets its

Name from the river swear which runs through its Valley towards the river temps and as its name suggests the village hangs on the steep sides of the river valley it is home to an extremely beautiful Barn it’s one of the finest 15th century half crack barns in England constructed in

142 for new College Oxford it’s a grade one listed building and a scheduled ancient Monument it measures 39 by7 M with walls nearly a meter thick it’s 10 Bays long with two gabled porches on the Eastern side there are three as you can see rows of

Holes in the walls which are what are called putlog holes originally whilst the barn was being built these were holes that held horizontal beams that supported the scaffolding boards and when the building was finished they were never filled in subsequently they were left as they were to act as ventilation holes in

1981 when in a near fatal state of repair the barn was bought along with the adjacent farmyard by the oxera buildings trust the farmyard was then put out for development to help fund the restoration of the barn they were also helped by a grant from English Heritage and once restored SW Cliff Barn

Was leased to oxer County Council to house the county Museum’s collection of agricultural and trade vehicles the bar is open to the public on Sundays and bank holiday Mondays from Easter until the end of October the Church of St Peter and St Paul and swalcliffe has been respected by the

Restorer as Evans says in our favorite guide book you have no need to peer here and there with anxious eye to discover that you have not entered a SPI and span erection of yet y today the church is mostly 12th to 14th century but its history is perhaps best read from

Within the carved Oak pews of the 17th century the venerable arcades the fine open Timber roof and the perpendicular chel screen which still retains traces of its original coloring strike you at once and the charm of the hole is enhanced by the warm tins of the Native

Stone and the flood of Light which the windows are still able to admit the peus and Pulpit were the gift of the Wickham family who lived here for many generations there is a curious feature in the church which is difficult to ignore there are two small Windows over

Two arches of the Nave one and I the side how they got there for they are evidently much older than the arches is a puzzle it’s been suggested that they belonged to a pre-existing Saxon Church Without ises and that when the Arches were built the wall above containing

These windows was shored up with props to prevent the necessity of taking the roof off we have come across the Windows like it before actually in Whitney at all places the stone painted ridos behind the altar is by Ling and Bar in 1887 and the p and Triple sedilia A 13th

Century but restored in the 19th century they are beautiful the rude stairway turret is still visible and the walls are decorated with some delightful wall paintings one which features the figure of St Michael weighing the scales the Virgin and two Devils intervening on either side is particularly Charming

There are two tomb recesses one containing an empty coffin and the other a lid with a plain cross and there are also Wickham family memorials on the walls one of which shows Richard Wickam who died in 1635 kneeling opposite his wife at a prayer desk beneath a round

Arch the village of sliff here in many respects unaltered over the generations the little 17th century thatched Cottages are still largely untouched and the little narrow Lanes not really designed for the modern Motorcar obsessed World retain their charm and warmth it has been striking whilst exploring this area of oxyer with its

Dark stone and thatch roofing that the layout of The Villages is not quite what we’re used to in the cwell proper these steep perilous little streets so narrow that you feel you could reach out and touch both opposing houses and which inevitably end in or

Near a river at the nadier of the valley create a unique atmosphere we know that many of these Villages suffered considerable decline in the early part of the 20th century but now it looks very much as if their renewal is nearly complete it says a lot thought for the

People of this County that in the process they have lost very little of their original charm I suppose the only thing that slightly got me down was the weight of the traffic along some of these roads which certainly affects the peace and quiet of the settlements but as we will see in the

Weeks to come this is perhaps inevitable considering the fact that many of the roads in this part of the county have been important highways since the iron age I hope you’ve enjoyed our little trip around swalcliffe it’s a lovely Village quite close to the sort of bustling bambur and you get that sense

That there’s a quite a busy roads and so on around here but in amongst it all are these extraordinary sleepy places in this remarkable church and the tithe bar it’s been a great experience continuing our tour of these lovely near cotwell villages we head now for wiggington this Village is smaller now

Than it once was but still beautiful and it boasts a wonderfully unspoiled church it’s really rather surprising this little village is not quite as small as it was expected it to be it’s got a very important little church and of course we in that wonderful Countryside where the stone is of a much

Deeper red color than we are used to in normal coxwells come with us we’re going to show you around a short ride up the homely Green Valley from South Newington where you found us last week brings us to the little village of wigington those of you who were with us

Last week will remember that we saw a church in South Newington which was not only unspoiled but full of old wall paintings rediscovered and restored in the 20th century clear clearly this was a region less persecuted by the reformers than many for wingon also has a very unspoiled

Church it is modest and unpretentious but is one of the most beautiful and safe for the added perpendicular clester one of the most unaltered examples of the early English style in this part of the country stemming from around 1180 to 1275 there is a peculiar charm in the

Clustered columns deep moldings and high pitched rules of this particular style and the scene that meets the eye as you enter through the porch curiously placed at the Northwest angle of the building is wholly delightful in a country church where you can generally take in Everything At a

Glance the first impression on entering counts for much you you’re at once either cheered or depressed and at wiggington there is no question which for those interested in such things there are rather unusually two lowside windows in this church originally unglazed they were closed with wooden shutters one of them is

Right next to the beautiful stone priest’s seat about which a little more in a minute and as you can see now glazed along with the rest of the window L their use was to communicate with the churchard outside but what this communication was can only be a matter for

Conjecture probably they served more purposes than one for instance in the absence of a Sanctus Bell cut the Bell might be rung through them by an acolyte or they might have been utilized in connection with the funeral service the idea that they were used to administer the sacrament to lepers requires confirmation

The aforementioned Stone priest’s chair is in an unusual spot against a Southwest wall and might have been moved at some point it’s beautiful with an elaborate canopy with its Hood stops carved as a Swann and a dragon it’s surprisingly comfortable on the north side of the Chan Arch the rude Loft stairway is

Still visible and there are two medieval monuments in the chancel in arched recesses which have been obscured a bit by the raising of the chancel floor and the insertion of benches the recumbent night now on the North side was originally lying on a black marble gravestone on the south

Side and a stone coffin with a cross on it clearly described by rollinson as on the North side has seemingly been destroyed the Effy of a recumbent man with two small female figures one on either side now in the southern recess in the early 18th century was fixed to the outside of

The South aisle his two small companions were almost certainly also designed to be standing in recesses in a wall and don’t represent his children or wives as sometimes suggested there’s no mention in Evans of the stained glass East window which surprised me a little until I discovered

That it was designed and installed by one L Moore of London in 19009 a few years after Evans passed through I’m very much afraid he probably wouldn’t have approved the church has three Bells recast in the 18th century with a mid 17th century clock designed to strike

The hours on the tenner Bell which my books tell me has been out of action since the 1920s but I’m absolutely certain that while we were there I listened to the tick tock of the clock and even heard a strike now I’ll have to go back and find

Out if I was imagining things or perhaps one of our kind listeners who I happen to know lives in wington might just drop us a note to put us right traveling the lanes of this Village you can see its atmosphere has altered very little over the years it

Took its name from the Saxon Lord wicker spelled wi CG who seems to have owned a lot of property in the area but this Valley had already attracted Romano British settlers as demonstrated by the Roman villa of some size and wealth discovered Elijah’s Northeast of the

Church it was excavated in 1824 by the curate with the help of Joseph Skelton who described it in his Antiquities more excavations were carried out in the 1960s originally the center of the village was probably more closely centered around the church indeed we know that several Cottages dilapidated

At the time were bought and given to the church in 1867 by one Jr Cobb and demolished to extend the churchyard the well you can see in the lane opposite the church used to be in a Cottage Garden what has as you see today were built mostly in the late 16th and early

17th centuries although extended and altered much more recently originally with thatched rofes giving regular work to the two thatched who lived in the village Sterns field slate and other types of roofs have replaced much of the thatch in recent times at its peak in 1861 The Village had around 338

Inhabitants I’m not certain how many people live here today but in the late 20th century the population had fallen again to9 I guess we all have smaller families these days next we drop down into the valley of the river swear to find a village that despite its ancient buildings has an

Extremely well-kempt feel about it in the church we find a staggering 14th century wall painting that was discovered under whitewash in 1892 the village is called South Newington we’re visiting here because Evans spoke about it in his tour of the North of Oxford um and we find ourselves in a

Little village that is quite clearly barely changed since he cycled through here in 195 we’re going to show you around this fascinating church and lovely little village come with me we dropped down into the swear Valley at the Primitive Village of South Newington South Newton with its neighbors wiggington and sford higher up

The stream may be taken as the type of the poorer Oxford Village a type which presents a marked contrast to the welltoo and populous adury or bloxom Newton consists chiefly of rows of humble Cottages which have suffered little change for Generations as you w Down The Village

Street you’re made to feel that times are bad that the flow of the rising generation a has taken this to heart and has departed to seek its Fortune elsewhere so wrote Evans in 195 no sign now of the pessimistic atmosphere he felt of the time Villages like this one all over the

Region have become deeply sought after by people with money and property prices of sword he carries on but there is another side to the picture if South Newington is poor it has at any rate lacked the means of self-destruction for its church is still unrestored and must not be left without a

Visit a good attempt at beautifying was indeed made in the so-called Church Warden Epoch which may I suppose be taken roughly to lie between years 1650 to 1850 the lead was stripped off the ruls of the Nave and chancel and replaced by slates while the interior was reated with squalid deal

Pews in addition to this a vulgar varnished ceiling has been put up in the chancel but otherwise the church has escaped mutilation I wonder with what excitement he would have described this church if he had known about the incredible wall paintings that in 195 lurked hidden beneath several coats of

Whitewash those in the north Isle were discovered in 1892 but not revealed and restored until the 1930s long after evans’s visit and is the finest medieval group of War paintings in the county they are painted in oil on plaster an unusual medium by an accomplished artist at sometime around the the

1330s where the scenes include arms for example on the south SP of the East window where St Margaret is seen spearing The Dragon standing on an ionic Capital with a shield the arms are of the gford family Lords of the Manor in the 13th and 14th centuries it’s likely that the donors

Kneeling at the feet of the Virgin and child on the North w are Thomas gford and his wife Margaret in 1931 during the work on these fabulous medieval paintings more images were discovered above the Nave whilst examining and cleaning the walls they found a series of 15 passion

Scenes painted by a less sophisticated hand probably a local artist in A Primitive even naive style the lack of sophistic ation however in no way diminishes the beauty and fascination of these paintings they are just as important as social record and imbued with every bit as much of an emotional

Charge overall this is a remarkable collection of War paintings and a rare survivor of the horrific iconic clastic age of the Reformation I just have a niggling wish that Evans who we’ve been following for so long I now slightly weirdly look on almost as a friend had had an

Opportunity to see them I know it would have made his day the church contains a lovely round 12th century font the Box pews in the aisles but benches in the Nave about which Evans was so scathing which are by John Payne from 1825 the windows are dotted with

Remnants of old glass in their smaller Tracy sections if you’re a scholar of stained glass there is much to keep you amused but for the rest of us it’s all a little small and specialized lying loose at the East End of the north arcade is a stone base to

What was probably once a 14th century lecon carved with four human heads talking of things of specialist interest just outside the porch is the base and stump of a medieval churchyard cross the likes of which we’ve seen all over the region this little place has reminded me

If I needed reminding that there are Treasures to be found in the most unlikely places and how lucky I am to spend my time wandering the little Villages of what is one of the most beautiful regions of England I hope you’ve enjoyed our little spin around South Newton we’ve loved it

Actually and despite evans’s slightly patronizing remarks in his lovely book there’s something about a place that really feels as though it hasn’t changed for hundreds of years that is deeply attractive to bring this episode to an end we will visit the bustling town of banur to which the young calbero ran

With his outrageous lies about his uncle’s death the town has a lot to answer for considering the destruction of its ancient Cathedral likee Church as well as its huge castle but nevertheless it still contains places and buildings of considerable interest including the church that replaced its distinguished

Predecessor all in all a lovely town and a fine end to the episode looking at the church of St Mary today quite clearly early 18th century in origin it’s peculiar to imagine that on this very site there was once stood a huge medieval church just a Parish church but so

Spectacular with its massive central tower long and lofty Nave and Gable trps that it was often referred to as a cathedral surely nothing short of a catastrophe or natural disaster can have swept it away well actually the church was systematically demolished in 17 90 as Evans says in a tone of

Incredulous Fury incredible as it may seem The Splendid edifice was deliberately demolished in order to save the expense of a few necessary repairs and to put money into the pockets of interested persons he tells us to look at Beasley’s record of the events to hear the full

Story but today you only have to invest a small sum in the Excellence souvenir guide available in the new church to hear quite enough about this terrible Scandal certainly there can be no denying the determination of the burgers of Banbury in the late 18th century it’s no joke demolishing a

Building like the one that stood here at that time the destruction of the tower which rested upon great Square Norman pillars was a formidable undertaking but the Philistines were not to be borked Timber and wedges were laid beneath it to give it temporary support and then the pillars were partially knocked

Away fire was applied for 24 hours to consume the Timbers which had been substituted and at the expiration of that time the noble pile fell down burying the parts beneath it amid its ruins 120 years later and 118 years ago this sad tale affected Evans to such an

Extent that he fled the town in despair describing the church that replaced the medieval St Mary’s as the nadier of ecclesiastical architecture he didn’t return we have and frankly I’m glad we decided to do so now this town has its fair share of Social Challenges according to the above mentioned guide

The area around the new church ranks amongst the 15% most deprived areas in the whole of England this is a rather remarkable statistic considering this county is one of the richest it is however at heart a beautiful Town many of you will know of banry either from the nursery Ryme with its

Famous cross to which the lady rode her rocking horse or perhaps the bambur cake bambur cakes are described as oval-shaped puff pastry Confections with a succulent delicious filling made of currants and other fruit and spices the puff pastry shell is covered with the sprinkling of cane sugar they are delicious and was

Probably adapted somewhat over the years are supposed to stem from the time of the Crusades the cross no longer exists in its original form but a Victorian replica stands proudly in the center of the town to remind us of the fame awarded the community by the rhyme which goes as

Follows ride a horse to bambury cross to see a fine lady ride on a white horse with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes she shall have music Wherever She Goes it has been suggested that the fine lady in the rhyme may have been lady gadiva

Or Elizabeth I more likely it was a local girl who rode in a Mayday procession the original cross was pulled down at the end of the 16th century and the present one erected in 1859 to celebrate the wedding of the then Princess Royal to Prince Frederick of

Prussia the color of the stone used in the building of bamry is the dark reddish Sandstone we’ve seen before so often in this area perhaps most obviously shown in the building opposite the church the weightly hall Hotel once an inn called the three tons it was here in 1778 that John

Mchair sat at the window of his room and Drew this view of the great medeval church the picture now sits amongst the manuscripts in Corpus Christie College in Oxford and so we come to the new St Mary’s Church and to what the gothic antiquer JH Parker describes as a

Hideous Square mass of stone without form or proportion or a single redeeming feature when it was first built in the 1790s the design by SP cocherel was indeed plain and rather austere aiming probably for a kind of severe Roman grander but nonetheless architecturally accomplished the inside was white and

Undecorated and looked perhaps a little more like a concert hall or a playhouse than a temple of Christian worship it received terrible reviews at the time as we have seen but over the years has just been richly decorated and furnished and now ironically serves brilliantly as a concert venue for the

Time of bamry and its surrounding communities as well as an extremely active parochial Church looking after the interests of the local community that both needs and appreciates the effort in 1860 a young Henry back was appointed priest at banry who himself appointed Arthur blomfield as architect of the

Church and it was the latter who had the vision of reverting to the earliest Arrangements of Christian churches namely that of the Basilica and he set about turning St Mary’s into a place of worship as well as more secular activity based on the guilded 12th century Church of s Clemente in

Rome the work started in 1864 with the decoration of the main body of the church paid for by donation and with the steady introduction of stained glass windows a distinguished firm of church decorators Heaton Butler and Bane were to see the project through from inception to completion the upper Windows illustrate

The Life of Christ and the lower ones his Parables with a simple Christian message much of the glass was designed and made by Alfred Hassam at that stage an extremely young man who had he lived would undoubtedly have come to be recognized as his generation’s outstanding glass designer sadly he died

Of tuberculosis at the age of 26 don’t hesitate to visit this extraordinary building it may easily not be to everyone’s taste but it is certainly worth an hour of anyone’s time for us the extremely friendly welcome from the volunteers who look after the place day by day plus the fact

That they sent me out to fetch Gizmo and widget who I had tied to a boot scraper outside the church and to bring them in for a treat and a drink confirmed to me at least that this place is is in extremely good hands I do hope you’ve enjoyed our

Little spin around banry I’ve Got a Feeling we sort of have put it right a little bit our rudess about the place so many years ago I suppose everybody’s vable don’t forget to subscribe to the channel you can find us on all the normal platforms and we will see you again extremely soon

Somewhere else in the cotw worlds or nearby