Hardwick (Banbury)
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The Ruscote, Hardwick and Hanwell Fields estates are three interconnecting Banbury estates that were built between the 1930s and 2000s in
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
, England.


History

During excavations for the building of an office in Hennef Way in 2002, the remains of a
British Iron Age The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ire ...
settlement with circular buildings dating back to 200 BC were found. The site contained around 150 pieces of pottery and stone. Later there was a Roman villa at nearby Wykham Park.A history of Banbury and the Banbury Cross explained
/ref> A small drinking-water reservoir lies to the north of Hennef way. The major road was named after Hennef in Germany. Ruscote was a local village, that dated back to the 15th century, but did not develop until the late 19th century. It was formally incorporated into the borough of Banbury in 1889. The 1919 Housing Act was followed by the building of the Easington housing estate of 361 council houses in what was one of the first slum clearance schemes in the country. By 1930 the medical officer reported 131 Banbury town centre houses unfit for habitation. So in 1933 Banbury council opened the Ruscote housing estate of 160 houses. The heavy increase in population between 1931 and 1949 was accommodated by the expansion of the town in three main areas, in each of which houses were built both by the town corporation and by housing private companies. The three areas were between the Oxford and Bloxham roads, where about 500 houses were built before 1939 to form the bulk suburb of Easington; in the area of the older village and suburb of Neithrop, where before 1939 some 500 houses were built both around the earlier houses and further west in new streets on either side of the Warwick road, a development which was extended to the south-west after 1945. In 1933 Banbury council opened the Ruscote housing estate of 160 houses, for working-class families. The estate, which now has a notable South Asian community, was expanded in the 1950s because of the growth of the town due to the London overspill and further grew in the mid-1960s.


Industry and commerce

The
Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway The Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway was a standard-gauge mineral railway that served an ironstone quarry near the village of Wroxton in Oxfordshire. The line's history The OIR linked the quarry with the Great Western Railway about to the east a ...
(OIR) was opened between 1917 and 1919, was closed in 1967 and the line was lifted between 1967 and 1968. It was a major employer in Banbury for many of those years. The mid-1950s the council established the Southam Road Industrial Estate which was successful in bringing a wide range of industries to the town. The most important newcomer was
General Foods Ltd The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...
, formerly Alfred Bird & Sons (now Kraft Foods), which produced convenience foods. The plant was built between 1964 and 1965 and the company moved to Banbury from Birmingham in 1965. General Foods received active political and fiscal co-operation from the council to partly help find jobs for the local London overspill population. Kraft Foods Banbury is the
Kraft The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...
centre of manufacturing in Britain, with the Kraft UK headquarters located at
Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...
. A new factory with an floor space was being constructed in 1969 for Encase Ltd and a factory was being built for Demag Hoists and Cranes Ltd., a subsidiary of
Demag Zug Demag Cranes AG is a German heavy equipment manufacturer now controlled by Japan-based Tadano via a $215 million deal. The roots of Demag date back prior to its formation, but became Märkische Maschinenbau-Anstalt, Ludwig A.-G in 1906 as the ...
, one of the world's largest manufacturers of lifting equipment. The industrial estate had become one of the 'economic epicentres' of the
Banburyshire Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...
region by the early 1970s. The local
Kraft Foods Banbury Kraft Foods in the Ruscote ward of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England is a large food and coffee producing factory in the north of the town. Built in 1964, it was partly due to the London overspill. Kraft Foods Banbury is the Kraft Foods centre of ...
plant, which is sometimes known as General Foods after the original owner the building, and the Beaumont industrial estate and Lockheed Drive retail estate would become the leading employers for Ruscote and Hardwick estates. During October 2006, a warehouse block that was being prepared for demolition, belonging to Kraft Foods, caught fire and burned most of the day. There was a notable fire at the coffee plant on Tuesday 7 December 2010. In Spring 2010, a lorry load of Kenco Coffee was stolen by a driver who conned his way into the plant. The Ruscote Arcade and the Hillview Arcade are another two shopping facilities on the estate.


Schools

The estate is served by one school *
Hill View Primary School This is a list of schools in Oxfordshire, England. State-funded schools Primary schools *Abbey Woods Academy, Berinsfield *All Saints CE Primary School, Didcot *Appleton CE Primary School, Appleton *Ashbury with Compton Beauchamp CE Primary ...
, Hill View Crescent.


Recreational areas and parks

* Both Hillview Park and Ruscote Park are 2 large, co-joined, parks situated in the middle of the estate, and connecting to a children's play park that leads down between the local shopping complexes at the Ruscote Arcade and the Hillveiw Arcade. *A small extension, known locally as the Aldi Park and/or the Co-Op Park, is set across the road by the town's Aldi store. Both parks have many facilities, including monkey bars, swings, football pitches and basketball courts. Together the three parks measure approx. 45,000m2. There is one other minor children's play park elsewhere. There were some concerns over anti-social behaviour and heavier than average litter levels in Princess Diana Park and Hillview Park and that
fly-tipping Illegal dumping, also called fly dumping or fly tipping ( UK), is the dumping of waste illegally instead of using an authorized method such as curbside collection or using an authorized rubbish dump. It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto l ...
in Banbury also affects some streets and footpaths such as on the Ironstones' paths.http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/yournh/yournh-tvp-pol-area/yournh-tvp-pol-area-n348


Hardwick


History

One of the first records of the hamlet of Hardwick was in the year 1279 when 'Laurence of Hardwick' was paying rent for a local mill to the Bishop of Lincoln. In 1247 The hundred of Banbury was valued at £5 a year and in 1441 '
certainty money Certainty (also known as epistemic certainty or objective certainty) is the epistemic property of beliefs which a person has no rational grounds for doubting. One standard way of defining epistemic certainty is that a belief is certain if and o ...
' (a form of rent) due from the northern part of the hundred was 89s. 8d. It was made up of payments from Shutford, Claydon,
Swalcliffe Swalcliffe is a village and civil parish about west of Banbury in Oxfordshire. The parish is about long north–south and about east–west. The 2011 Census recorded the population of the modern Swalcliffe parish as 210. The toponym "Swalc ...
,
Great Bouton Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...
and
Little Bourton Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...
,
Prescote Prescote is a hamlet and civil parish about north of Banbury in Oxfordshire. Its boundaries are the River Cherwell in the southeast, a tributary of the Cherwell called Highfurlong Brook in the west, and Oxfordshire's boundary with Northampton ...
, Hardwick, Calthorpe and
Neithrop Neithrop is an inner housing estate and part of the greater 'Neithrop ward' of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It is one of the oldest areas in Banbury, having first been first recorded as a hamlet in the 13th century. Neithrop, Woodgreen and Br ...
, Wickham, Wardington, Williamscot,
Swalcliffe Lea Swalcliffe is a village and civil parish about west of Banbury in Oxfordshire. The parish is about long north–south and about east–west. The 2011 Census recorded the population of the modern Swalcliffe parish as 210. The toponym "Swalcl ...
, and the former 'prebend' of Banbury. By 1568 these, except the rent from Wardington and amounted to 69s. 4d. in 1652, when the total profits of court were valued at 103s. 4d. a year in 'certainty money'. In 1875 payments were made only by Williamscot, Swalcliffe, Prescote, Great and Little Bourton, Neithrop, Claydon, and Shutford since the rest were freed from their rent obligations. Hardwick was a Medieval hamlet that did not expand much until the late 19th century and was formally incorporated into the borough of Banbury in 1889. It became a minor village in the late 1930s and finally a housing estate in the late 1950s.


Industry and commerce

The presence of local industry was recorded as far back as the year 1279, when 'Laurence of Hardwick' was paying 3 Marks in rent to the Bishop of Lincoln annually for a mill in Hardwick hamlet. The Northern Aluminium Co. Ltd. or Alcan Industries Ltd. pig and rolled Aluminium factory was opened in 1931 on land the firm had bought in 1929 on the east of the Southam road, in the then hamlet of Hardwick. Output had reached such an extent that in the early 1950s that Banbury's economy had become dependent on the plant's prosperity, with 24%, of the town's workers being employed there. At this time 13% were employed in distribution, 7% in clothing and 5% in agriculture. The former Alcan factory that helped build parts for Spitfire fighters aircraft during the Second World War. The Alcan Laboratories Club was founded in 1948 by the lab technicians to promote the wellbeing of the workforce in general. As a result, the village began to grow. The various Alcan facilities on the 53-acre site closed between 2006 and 2007. The factory was demolished between 2008 sand 2009. The laboratory was also demolished in 2009. Most of the estate built in the 1970s because of the growth of the town due to the Birmingham overspill and a slum clearance scheme in
Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...
. Some Welsh families have moved in since. It was expanded further in the mid-1980s. The main shopping facility is the Hardwick arcade.


Schools

The estate is served by four schools. * Hardwick Community School Ferriston Rd., Banbury. * Hardwick Primary School Ferriston Rd., Banbury * Hardwick And Arden Pre-school * Hardwick School.


Private health clinic

Hardwick Surgery is a privately run health centre in Ferriston Rd., Banbury.


Recreational areas and parks

* The Ironstones Play Area , near Ferriston Rd. was recently upgraded at a cost of a budget of £70,000. it is situated in the large Ironstones Park. The Engineered Wood Fiber (EWF) floor surface was removed during the 2007 renovation work, in favour of a safer ATP Rubberized Unitary Surface due to kids throwing the wood chips at each other, leading to a serious eye injury occurring in 2005. * The Ironstone Park is a
park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
in the Hardwick ward of Banbury in the English county of
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
. It is an average size park that it situated off ironstones (street). There is a medium size children's play area and a Large field measuring approx 18,000m2. It is adjacent to Hardwick School. *The Hereford Way Play Park is a small play park. *The Sussex Drive Play Park is a small play park. *The Magnolias Park is a major park and contains the Magnolias Play Park. There were some concerns over anti-social behaviour and heavier than average litter levels in Princess Diana Park and Hillview Park and that
fly-tipping Illegal dumping, also called fly dumping or fly tipping ( UK), is the dumping of waste illegally instead of using an authorized method such as curbside collection or using an authorized rubbish dump. It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto l ...
in Banbury also affects some streets and footpaths such as on the Ironstones' paths.


Hanwell Fields


History

Hanwell Field has been farmland since at least
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...
times.Lobel & Crosley, 1969, pages 112–123 Local villagers farmed the parish of
Hanwell, Oxfordshire Hanwell is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about northwest of Banbury. Its area is and its highest point is about above sea level. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 263. Early history Remains of a substantial Ro ...
and its related lands on a two-field
open field system The open-field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages and lasted into the 20th century in Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Each manor or village had two or three large fields, usually several hundred acre ...
until 1768, when
Sir Charles Cope, 2nd Baronet Sir Charles Cope, 2nd Baronet (c. 1743 – 14 June 1781) was a British aristocrat. He was the eldest son of Jonathan Cope, the eldest son of Sir Jonathan Cope, 1st Baronet. His father was baptised on 27 October 1717 at Sarsden, Oxfordshire, and d ...
bought out the rights of
copyhold Copyhold was a form of customary land ownership common from the Late Middle Ages into modern times in England. The name for this type of land tenure is derived from the act of giving a copy of the relevant title deed that is recorded in the man ...
ers, life and leaseholders and enclosed the common lands. In 1645 during the English Civil War, Parliamentary troops were billeted in nearby Hanwell village for nine weeks. Villagers petitioned the Warwickshire Committee of Accounts to pay for feeding them. The estate lies between Banbury and Hanwell, built in-between 2001 and 2006, with a minor extension occurring in 2008 on the grounds of the former
Hanwell Farm Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing, in the historic County of Middlesex, England. It is about 1.5 miles west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post t ...
. This has become one of the constituent houses due to the natural growth of the town's commuter population. Hanwell Fields was heavy flooded for a few days in 2007 due to heavy rainfall. The estate has a small group of shops and one pub. Many residents are part of London's commuter population.


Schools

Hanwell Fields Community School, Rotary Way.


Recreational areas and parks

* Winter Gardens Way Children's Play Park is well maintained and has 1 bench, 1 playground slide and a
Spring rider A spring rider or spring rocker is a bouncy, outdoors playing device, invented in the 1970s in Denmark. It mainly consists of a metal spring beneath a plastic or wooden central beam or flange, with 1 to 4 plastic or fiberglass seats above it. W ...
. It is one of the smallest parks in the area, measuring roughly X 12 ft. *Ashmead Close Play Park is a small children's play park. *Usher Drive Park is a small park on the edge of town and contains the Usher Drive Play Park. *Sage Close Play Park is a small play park. *Pitmaston Road Play Park is a small
play park A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people w ...
. *Meadowsweet Close Park and children's play park is roughly ⅔ the size of Princess Diana Park and contains the Meadowsweet Close Play Park . *Rosedale Green is a small picnic site and park. There is a large green space made up of grassy fields and seating to the north, which may be partly built on if planning permission is granted.


Planned expansion

A nearby field to the north has recently been developed following a formal application for the building of another 20 houses and a Sainsbury’s Local corner shop.


Transport

The local bus services to Banbury town centre and the Hardwick and Ruscote estate are run by the Stagecoach Oxfordshire bus company. Heyfordian Travel also run a service to the Hardwick estate and
Hanwell Fields The Ruscote, Hardwick and Hanwell Fields estates are three interconnecting Banbury estates that were built between the 1930s and 2000s in Oxfordshire, England. History During excavations for the building of an office in Hennef Way in 2002, ...
via the local Tesco and the Barley Mow pub.
Cheney Coaches Cheney often refers to: * Cheney (surname), people with the name ** C. R. Cheney (1906-1987), English historian ** Dick Cheney (born 1941), 46th vice president of the United States ** Liz Cheney (born 1966), American attorney and Wyoming conservativ ...
also ran a service that ran parallel to most of the Stagecoach route between 1996 and 2004.


Local politics

The Ruscote and Hardwick wards were traditionally a
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
ward but for the first time, during the 2006 local elections for
Cherwell District Council Cherwell may refer to: Geography * Cherwell, Queensland, a locality in the Fraser Coast Region, Australia *Cherwell District, an administrative district in Oxfordshire, England *River Cherwell The River Cherwell ( or ) is a tributary of the ...
, the Ruscote ward changed to one
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
councillor and one
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
councillor. The traditionally present
Green party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
candidate lost in 2006. The Conservatives held the ward for the Banbury Town Council and Oxfordshire County Council out right as of 2010. The UKIP or British National Party fielded no candidates in the ward during 2006. A lone Liberal Democrat ran and lost in the
Hardwick estate Hardwick and Hardwicke are common place names in England—this is from the Old English pre-7th century word "heorde", meaning a "herd or flock", with "wic", which like the later Viking word "thorp" described an outlying farm or settlement, which wa ...
during 2006. Following the local elections of 2012, the Conservatives retain all District and Town council seats in Hardwick while Labour holds all District and Town council seats in Ruscote.


Gallery

File:Pin hill gradeing works.JPG, A picture of the former Wroxton Qarry's Pin Hill farm grading works in Ruscote, Banbury in 2001. The former track is now a path that acts as the boundary line between the Ruscote and Hardwick estates. File:Hanwell Fields' parks 2011.jpg, Images of 3 of the parks in Hanwell Fields, Banbury during 2011. Top left is Usher Drive Park, top right is Medowsweet Close Park and below is the major 'green space' park to the north of the estate. File:OIR gradeing plant.jpg, A shot of the former OIR gradeing works on the Hardwick/Ruscote border, looking down from the top in 2001. File:Woxton-Banbury Mineral line 1.png, Pictures of the surviving huts at the former quarry in 2001 and the track bed in Hardwick and Ruscote during 2001. File:Ruscote and Hillveiw park2.jpg, Four pictures of the co-joined Ruscote and Hillview parks in 2010. Hillview Park is on the left and Ruscote Park is on the right. File:Ruscote estate 1a.jpg, A picture of part of the Ruscote estate, from Hillview Park in 2010. File:Ruscote in 2009 (3).jpg, Banbury's Ruscote estate in 2009. File:Fine Lady Bakeries - geograph.org.uk - 327628.jpg, Fine Lady Bakeries behind Coopers Gate, Banbury. The company was started in the 1950s and established on this site since 1965. File:A Hanwell fields 'check point' 2010.jpg, A rising bollard road block between Hanwell Fields and Hardwick in 2010. They are locally called Hanwell Fields 'check points', because they look like (less a guard) Western European checkpoints. File:Hanwell fields 2011 mk3.jpg, The upmaket Hanwell fields estate in 2011.


See also

* History of Banbury, Oxfordshire * Kraft Foods


References


External links

* {{coord, 52.06025, -1.36256, type:landmark_region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SP438404), display=title Banbury Housing estates in Oxfordshire