Site-Search
Coming Soon
|
Site-Search |
|
Page and site |
|
Banbury in Oxford County England History and GeographyBANBURY, a borough, market town and parish, having separate jurisdiction, in the hundred of BANBURY, county of OXFORD, 22 miles (N.) from Oxford, and 73 (N.W.) from London, containing, with the hamlet of Neithrop, 5247 inhabitants. This place, by the Saxons called Banesbyrig, of which its present name is a contraction, is supposed to have been occupied by the Romans, and this opinion has been confirmed by the discovery of some Roman coins and an altar. A castle was built here about 1153, by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, which continued an episcopal residence till the first year of the reign of Edward VI. 'In this castle,' says Leland, ';is a terrible prison for convict men.' During the war between the houses of York and Lancaster, the neighbourhood was the seene of frequent conflicts: the most disastrous of these was the battle of Banbury, fought in 1469, on a plain called Danesmore, near Edgecote, a village about three miles distant, between the forces under the celebrated Earl of Warwick, and a numerous army, which, under the command of the Earls of Pembroke and Stafford, had obtained possession of the town. The Yorkists were defeated; Pembroke, and his brother, Sir Richard Herbert, were both taken and bcheaded, and, a few days after, Edward IV. himself was made prisoner. At the commencement of the war between Charles I. and the parliament, the inhabitants espoused the cause of the latter, by whom the castle was garrisoned. After the battle of Edgehill, it was taken by the royalists, and defended by Sir William Compton, against Colonel John Fiennes, the parliamentary officer, for thirteen weeks, till the garrison was relieved by the Earl of Northampton. It was afterwards besieged by Colonel Whalley for ten weeks, when the king having joined the Scotch army, it was surrendered on honourable terms. Of this fortress, only a stone vault with grated windows, supposed to have been the dungeon, and traces of the inner ditch, were remaining in Leland's time. The town is pleasantly situated in a fertile valley, on the banks of the small river Cherwell, and has been greatly improved under an act of parliament passed in the fourth year of the reign of his present Majesty: the houses are well built, the streets lighted with oil, and the inhabitants plentifully supplied with water. There is a public subscription library. The manufacture of plush shag, and girth webbing, was formerly carried on to a considerable extent, but has greatly declined. A great quantity of cheese of a very superior quality is made, for which, and for its well known cakes, Banbury has long been famous. The Oxford canal comes up to the town. The market, which was greatly celebrated in the time of Henry VIII. is on Thursday: fairs are held, Jan. 22d, March 5th, April 9th, May 28th, June 18th, July 9th, August 13th, Sept. 10th, Oct. 5th and 30th, and Dec. 17th. The government, by charter of incorporation granted by Mary, confirmed by James, and enlarged by George I., is vested in a mayor, high steward, recorder, twelve aldermen, six capital burgesses and thirty assistants, with a town clerk, chamberlain, and other officers. The mayor, who is elected from among the aldermen on the first Monday in September, and two of the aldermen are justices of the peace within the borough, and hold regularly a petty session every Monday, and a general session twice a year. The corporation possess the power of holding a court of record for the recovery of debts under £40, but have discontinued the exercise of it. The elective franchise was conferred in the reign of Mary, since which time the borough has returned one member to parliament; the right of election is vested in the mayor and capital burgesses: the influence of the Marquis of Bute predominates: the mayor is the returning officer. The living is a discharged vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Oxford, rated in the king's books at £22. 0. 2., endowed with £200 private benefaction, £400 royal bounty, and £600 parliamentary grant, and in the patronage of the Bishop of Oxford. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a spacious structure, erected under the authority of an act of parliament obtained in 1790. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents, Presbyterians, and Wesleyan Methodists. A free grammar school which formerly existed here, was held in such high estimation, that the statutes of St. Paul's school, London, are said to have been drawn up on the model of those of Banbury school. One of the masters, Mr. Stanbridge, was tutor to the celebrated Sir Thomas Pope; and so great was the fame which this institution had acquired, that the statutes of the free grammar school at Manchester, dated 1524, ordain that grammar be there taught 'after the manner of the school at Banbury, in Oxfordshire, which is called Stanbridge grammar.' This school has been wholly abandoned for many years, and the building, formerly called the Church School, let on lease by the corporation. A blue coat school, established by subscription in 1705, and endowed with property to the amount of £80 per annum, was, in 1807, incorporated with a National school formed in that year, to which a Sunday school is attached, supported by the interest of £295. 1. 6. three per cent. consols, purchased by a legacy of £200 under the will of Sir John Knightley. An unendowed almshouse was rebuilt by Francis, Lord Guildford, for twelve poor persons appointed by the corporation, eight of whom receive part of a charitable fund called the widows' groats. Various other charities are periodically distributed, and certain lands are especially set apart for repairing the bridge, highways, &c. Adjoining the Ram Inn there is a sulphureous well, and, at a short distance from the town, a chalybcate spring. The pyrites aureus, or golden fire stone, is frequently found in digging wells. On Crouch hill, a mile westward, are vestiges of a circular intrenchment, the site of which was chosen for an encampment by Sir W. Waller, in 1644. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
Readers of this page were also interested in: Aylseham in Norfolk County England History and Geography AYLSEHAM, or AYLSHAM, a parish in the southern division of the hundred of ERPINGHAM, county of NORFOLK, 12¼ miles (N. by W.) from Norwich, and 121 (N.E. by N.) from London, containing 1853 inhabitants Baldock in Hertford County England History and Geography BALDOCK, a market town and parish in the hundred of BROADWATER, county of HERTFORD, 18 miles (N. by W.) from Hertford, and 37 (N. by W.) from London, on the great north road, containing 1550 inhabitants Brentford in Middlesex County England History and Geography BRENTFORD, a market town, comprising Old Brentford in the parish of EALING, Kensington division of the hundred of OSSULSTONE, and New Brentford in the parish of HANWELL, hundred of ELTHORNE, county of MIDDLESEX, 7 miles (W. by S.) from Hyde-Park corner, on the great western road. New Brentford contains 2036 inhabitants, and the population of Old Brentford is returned with Ealing Carisbrooke in Southampton County England History and Geography CARISBROOKE, a parish in the liberty of WEST MEDINA, Isle of Wight division of the county of SOUTHAMPTON, 1 mile (W. S. W.) from Newport, comprising the hamlets of Billingham, Bowcomb, and Carisbrooke, and part of the environs of the borough of Newport, and containing 4670 inhabitants. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's books at £23. 8 Dunmow (Little) in Essex County England History and Geography DUNMOW (LITTLE), a parish in the hundred of DUNMOW, county of ESSEX, 2¼ miles (E.S.E.) from Great Dunmow, containing 342 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Middlesex, and diocese of London, endowed with £200 private benefaction, £600 royal bounty, and £200 parliamentary grant. N. R. Toke, Esq. was patron in 1824. The church, dedicated to St Haslingden in Lancaster County England History and Geography HASLINGDEN, a market town and chapelry in that part of the parish of WHALLEY which is in the lower division of the hundred of BLACKBURN, county palatine of LANCASTER, 40 miles (S.E.) from Lancaster, 17 (N.) from Manchester, and 203 (N.N.W.) from London, containing 6595 inhabitants |
