Banbury is an historic

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

on the

River Cherwell A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, South East England. The parish 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 and southern parts of

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

and

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

which are predominantly rural. Banbury's main industries are motorsport, car components, electrical goods, plastics, food processing and printing. Banbury is home to the world's largest coffee-processing facility (

Jacobs Douwe Egberts JDE Peet's N.V. is an American-Dutch multinational coffee and tea company headquartered in Amsterdam. The company owns over 50 beverage brands, mostly of coffee, tea and hot chocolate. It was formed in 2015 following the merger of the coffee di ...

), built in 1964. The town is famed for

Banbury cakes A Banbury cake is a spiced, oval-shaped, currant-filled pastry. Since the mid-19th century, Banbury cakes have grown increasingly similar to Eccles cakes; but the earlier versions were quite different from the modern pastry. Besides currants, ...

, a spiced sweet pastry. Banbury is located north-west of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, south-east of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, south-east of

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

and north-west of

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Toponymy

The name Banbury may derive from "Banna", a Saxon chieftain said to have built a stockade there in the

6th century The 6th century is the period from 501 through 600 in line with the Julian calendar. In the West, the century marks the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Middle Ages. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire late in the prev ...

(or possibly a

byname An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

from meaning ''felon'', ''murderer''), and / meaning ''settlement''. In

Anglo Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to Ge ...

it was called (dative ).About Banbury
, The Rotary Club of Banbury The name appears as ''Banesberie'' in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086. Another known spelling was ''Banesebury'' in medieval times.

History

Archaeological evidence has been found for 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, in the Hennef Way area. Later there was a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house in the territory of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Nevertheless, the term "Roman villa" generally covers buildings with the common ...

at Wykham Park. The area was settled by the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

around the late 5th century. It was a local centre for Anglo-Saxon settlement by the mid-6th century. Banbury developed in the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

period under Danish influence, starting in the late 6th century. It was assessed at 50 hides in the Domesday survey and was then held by the

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of Nort ...

. The Saxons built Banbury on the west bank of the River Cherwell. On the opposite bank they built

Grimsbury Grimsbury is a largely residential area which forms the eastern part of Banbury, in the Cherwell district, in the county of, Oxfordshire, England. It is situated east of the River Cherwell, the Oxford Canal and the Cherwell Valley Line railw ...

, which was formerly part of

. Another district,

Neithrop Neithrop is an inner housing estate and part of the greater Neithrop ward of Banbury, in the Cherwell (district), Cherwell district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is one of the oldest areas in Banbury, having first been first reco ...

, is one of the oldest areas in Banbury, having first been recorded as a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in the 13th century. Banbury stands at the junction of two ancient roads: Salt Way (used as a bridle path to the west and south of the town), its primary use being transport of salt; and Banbury Lane, which began near Northampton and is closely followed by the modern road. It continued through what is now Banbury's High Street and towards the

Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia ( Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis ( Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bat ...

Stow-on-the-Wold Stow-on-the-Wold is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Gloucestershire, England, on top of an 800-foot (244 m) hill at the junction of main roads through the Cotswolds, including the Fosse Way (A429), which is of Roman ...

. Banbury's

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

prosperity was based on

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

Banbury Castle Banbury Castle was a medieval castle that stood near the centre of the town of Banbury, Oxfordshire. Historian John Kenyon notes that the castle is "remarkable for its early concentric shape".Kenyon, p. 68. History Banbury Castle was built in 11 ...

was built from 1135 by

Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln Alexander of Lincoln (died February 1148) was a medieval English Bishop of Lincoln, a member of an important administrative and ecclesiastical family. He was the nephew of Roger of Salisbury, a Bishop of Salisbury and Chancellor of England und ...

, and survived into the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

in the 1640s, when it was besieged. During the Civil War, due to its proximity to

, the King's capital, Banbury was at one stage a Royalist town, but the inhabitants were known to be strongly

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

. The town later became pro-Parliamentarian, but the castle was manned by a

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

garrison who supported King Charles I. The Reindeer Inn (now 'Ye Olde Reine Deer Inn') was reputedly used as a base by

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...

, particularly in preparing for the

Battle of Edge Hill The Battle of Edgehill (or Edge Hill) was a pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642. All attempts at constitutional compromise between K ...

in 1642. In 1645,

Parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

troops were billeted in nearby

Hanwell Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing. It is about west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post town. Hanwell is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. St ...

for nine weeks and villagers petitioned the Warwickshire Committee of Accounts to pay for feeding them.Lobel & Crosley, 1969, pages 112–123 The castle was demolished after the war. Banbury 1

The opening of the

Oxford Canal The Oxford Canal is a narrowboat canal in southern central England linking the City of Oxford with the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury (just north of Coventry and south of Bedworth) via Banbury and Rugby. Completed in 1790, it connects to th ...

from

Hawkesbury Junction Hawkesbury Junction or Sutton Stop () is a Junction (canal), canal junction in England, at the northern limit of the Oxford Canal where it meets the Coventry Canal, near Hawkesbury Village, Warwickshire, between Bedworth and Coventry. The alter ...

to Banbury on 30 March 1778 gave the town a cheap and reliable supply of

coal. In 1787 the Oxford Canal was extended southwards, finally opening to Oxford on 1 January 1790. The canal's main boat yard was the original outlay of today's

Tooley's Boatyard Tooley's Boatyard is a boatyard, dockyard on the Oxford Canal in the centre of the town of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. The opening of the Oxford Canal from Hawkesbury Junction to Banbury on 30 March 1778 gave the town a cheap and reliable ...

. The railway reached Banbury in 1850; Merton Street station on the

Buckinghamshire Railway The Buckinghamshire Railway was a railway company in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, England that constructed railway lines connecting Bletchley, Banbury and Oxford. Part of the route is still in use today as the Oxford to Bicester Line. H ...

Bletchley Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, in the south-west of the city, split between the civil parishes in England, civil parishes of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and West Bletchley, which In 2011 had a com ...

opened in May 1850, followed by Bridge Street station, later renamed Banbury General, on the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

in September 1850. People's Park was set up as a private park in 1890 and opened in 1910, along with the adjacent

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

. The land south of the New Foscote Hospital in Calthorpe and Easington Farm were mostly open farmland until the early 1960s. The

Ruscote 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, ...

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 London overspill communities are the communities created as a result of the government policy of moving residents out of Greater London into other areas in the South East of England between the 1930s and the 1970s. The policy was extended to rel ...

and further grew in the mid-1960s.

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

ways closed Merton Street railway station and the Buckingham to Banbury line to passenger traffic at the end of 1960. Merton Street goods depot continued to handle livestock traffic for Banbury's cattle market until 1966, when this too was discontinued and the railway dismantled. In March 1962 Sir

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...

celebrated the line from Culworth Junction in his poem ''Great Central Railway, Sheffield Victoria to Banbury''. British Railways closed this line too in 1966. The main railway station, previously called Banbury General but now called simply

Banbury Banbury is an historic market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. The parish had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding ...

, is now served by trains running from

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London railway station and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great Western Ra ...

via and once daily, from

London Marylebone Marylebone station ( ) is a London station group, Central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the Marylebone area of the City of Westminster. On the National Rail network, it is also known as London Marylebone a ...

via and

Bicester Bicester ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of Oxfordshire, England, north-west of Oxford. The town is a notable tourist attraction due to the Bicester Village shopping centre. The historical town centre � ...

onwards to

and and by CrossCountry Trains from and Reading to

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and . Banbury used to have a large

cattle market In economics, a market is a composition of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations or infrastructures whereby parties engage in Exchange (economics), exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets re ...

. Situated on Merton Street in

, for many decades, cattle and other farm animals were driven there on the hoof from as far as

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

to be sold to feed the growing population of London and other towns. Since its closure in June 1998, a new housing development and Dashwood Primary School has been built on its site. The estate, which lies between Banbury and

, was built on the grounds of Hanwell Farm during 2005 and 2006.

Banburyshire

The name 'Banburyshire' is sometimes used informally to describe the area centred on Banbury, claimed to include parts of

and

as well as north

. Use of the term dates from the early to mid 19th century. It was common in the 19th century for

s in England to describe their

hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning the 'land behind' a city, a port, or similar. Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated wi ...

by tacking "shire" onto the town's name. "Stones Map of Banburyshire" held by the Centre of Banbury Studies was published in the 1870s or 1880s and it asserted that the term originated in the 1830s but no source is given for that assertion. In the 1850s magazine articles used "Banburyshire" or the hyphenated term "Banbury-shire". The Banburyshire Natural History Society was formed in 1881. In the 20th century a number of books used the term "Banburyshire" in their titles, dating from the early 1960s. The county of Oxfordshire has two main commercial centres, the city of Oxford itself that serves most of the south of the county, and Banbury that serves the north (such as

Adderbury Adderbury is a winding linear village and rural Civil parishes in England, civil parish about south of Banbury in northern Oxfordshire, England. The settlement has five sections: the new Milton Road housing Development and West Adderbury, towar ...

, Cropredy,

Deddington Deddington is a town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England, south of Banbury. The parish includes two hamlets, Clifton and Hempton. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 2,146. It has been a market town since the 12th cent ...

Wroxton Wroxton is a village and civil parish in the north of Oxfordshire, England, about west of Banbury. The 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census recorded the parish's population as 546. Wroxton Abbey Wroxton Abbey is a Jacobean architecture, J ...

Great Bourton Great Bourton is a village about north of Banbury in Oxfordshire, England. It is the largest settlement in the civil parish of Bourton. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 614. Church and chapel Church of England The Churc ...

, and

Bloxham Bloxham is a village and civil parish in northern Oxfordshire several miles from the Cotswolds, about southwest of Banbury. It is on the edge of a valley and overlooked by Hobb Hill. The village is on the A361 road. The 2011 Census recorded ...

) plus parts of the neighbouring counties of

and

.Banburyshire

Governance

There are three tiers of local government covering Banbury, at

(town),

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

, and

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

level: Banbury Town Council,

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, in Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, England Peo ...

, and

Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire County Council is the county council (upper-tier local authority) for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire in the South East of England. Established in 1889, it is an elected body responsible for most strategic local government ...

. The town council is based at

Banbury Town Hall Banbury Town Hall is a municipal facility in the High Street in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. The town hall, which was the headquarters of Banbury Borough Council from its completion in 1854 until 1930, is a Grade II listed building. It now ser ...

on Bridge Street.

Administrative history

Banbury was an

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

. The parish historically straddled the boundary between Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire, which followed the River Cherwell. The Oxfordshire part of the parish (west of the river) included the town itself and the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. This is often simply an informal description of a smaller settlement or possibly a subdivision or satellite entity to a larger settlement. Sometimes a hamlet is defined f ...

, Calthorpe, Easington, Hardwick, and Wykham. The Northamptonshire part of the parish (east of the river) included the hamlets of

and Nethercote. In 1554,

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous a ...

issued a charter which incorporated the town as a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

. Prior to that, it had been a lower status

seigneurial borough A seigneurial borough was an administrative division of urban government within a manor of medieval England, that granted a town's citizens or burgesses rights of burgage tenure and a degree of self-government under a charter or prescription gra ...

, controlled by the Bishop of Lincoln as

lord of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

. Mary's charter defined a borough boundary matching the parish, but the borough later came to be defined as a much smaller area, just covering the urban area as it then was. From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under the

poor laws The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief in England and Wales that developed out of the codification of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws in 1587–1598. The system continued until the modern welfare state emerged in the late 1940s. E ...

, in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, including Banbury, the civil functions were exercised by subdivisions of the parish rather than the parish as a whole. In Banbury's case, the parish was split into three parts for administering the poor laws: the area of the borough, the remainder of the Oxfordshire part of the parish (known as the

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

of Neithrop), and the Northamptonshire part of the parish. The latter part was jointly administered with the neighbouring parish of Warkworth. In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so the old

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Banbury (which retained its church functions) diverged from the

es of Banbury (just covering the borough), Neithrop and Warkworth. The borough was reformed to become a

municipal borough A municipal borough was a type of local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of ...

in 1836 under the

Municipal Corporations Act 1835 The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 ( 5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 76), sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales. The le ...

, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country. The borough's powers were primarily judicial rather than providing public services for the growing town. In order to provide services and infrastructure, the whole ecclesiastical parish of Banbury was made a local board district in 1852, with the local board being responsible for sewers, public health, and other aspects of local government. The borough corporation and the local board then existed alongside each other, with their differently defined areas and roles, until 1889. In 1889, following the

Local Government Act 1888 The Local Government Act 1888 (51 & 52 Vict. c. 41) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales. It came into effect ...

, the Northamptonshire parts of the local board district (Grimsbury and Nethercote) were transferred to Oxfordshire, and the local board's functions were transferred to the borough corporation, with the borough being enlarged to cover the whole of the old local board district. The borough council met at Banbury Town Hall until 1930, when it moved its offices and meetings to the former Municipal Technical School (built 1893) on Marlborough Road. The municipal borough of Banbury was abolished in 1974 under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

, with its area becoming part of the new Cherwell district. No

successor parish Successor parishes are Civil parishes in England, civil parishes with a parish councils in England, parish council, created in England in 1974. They replaced, with the same boundaries, a selected group of Urban district (England and Wales), urban d ...

was created for Banbury at the time of the 1974 reforms and so it became unparished; instead, the Cherwell councillors who represented wards in Banbury acted as

charter trustees In England and Wales, charter trustees are set up to maintain the continuity of a town charter or city charter after a district with the status of a borough or city has been abolished, until such time as a civil parish council or in larger settle ...

to preserve the town's civic traditions, including appointing one of them to take the title of mayor each year. A number of roads are named after former mayors, including Mascord Road, Mold Crescent and Fairfax Close. A new civil parish of Banbury was created in 2000, with its parish council taking the name Banbury Town Council. Since then, the chair of the town council has taken the title of mayor.

Geography

Banbury is in the Cherwell Valley with many hills in and around the town. Apart from the town centre, much of Banbury is on a slope and each entry into the town is downhill. Estates such as

Bretch Hill Neithrop is an inner housing estate and part of the greater Neithrop ward of Banbury, in the Cherwell district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is one of the oldest areas in Banbury, having first been first recorded as a hamlet in ...

and Hardwick are built on top of a hill and much of the town can be seen from both. Other notable hills include the suburban,

Crouch Hill Crouch Hill is a street in north London, England, running between Crouch End and Stroud Green in the boroughs of Haringey and Islington. It is not to be confused with Crouch End Hill which runs between Crouch End and Hornsey Rise. (The two ...

and the more central Pinn Hill, and Strawberry Hill on the outskirts of Easington. Mine Hill and Rye Hill lie, along with many others, to the northeast, southeast and west of Banbury. Banbury is located at the bank of the

which sweeps through the town, going just east of the town centre with

being the only estate east of the river. Banbury is at the northern extreme of the UK's

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...

region, less than from the boundary with the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire (except for North Lincolnshire and North East ...

, and from that with the West Midlands. As such it has close cultural links with neighbouring Midlands towns such as

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...

, and

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

. In 1998 and 2007, Banbury was subject to heavy flooding due to its location by the River Cherwell. Heavy

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

and

Ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be c ...

deposits surround Banbury.

Industry and commerce

The

in 1086 listed three mills, with a total fiscal value of 45

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s, on the

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...

lands, and a fourth which was leased to Robert son of Waukelin by the Bishop. Among Banbury's four

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

mills was probably a forerunner of Banbury Mill, first referred to by this name in 1695. In 1279, Laurence of Hardwick was also paying 3 marks (equivalent to 40 shillings) in annual rent to the Bishop for a mill in the then Hardwick hamlet. The forerunners of Butchers Row were probably long standing butchers' stalls which were known to be in situ by 1438. The old Victorian

Corn Exchange A corn exchange is a building where merchants trade grains. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley; in the United States these buildings were called grain exchanges. Such trade was common in towns ...

is now used as an entrance to a shopping centre. The Northern Aluminium Co. Ltd. or Alcan Industries Ltd. pig and rolled aluminium factory was opened in 1931 on land acquired in 1929 on the east of the Southam road, in the then hamlet of Hardwick. The various Alcan facilities on the 53-acre site closed between 2006 and 2007. The factory was demolished between 2008 and 2009. The laboratory was also closed in 2004 and is now used as offices for numerous companies. Another major employer is

, which produces

instant coffee Instant coffee is a beverage derived from brewed coffee beans that enables people to quickly prepare hot coffee by adding hot water or milk to coffee solids in powdered or crystallized form and stirring. The product was first invented in Inver ...

. The facility moved to Banbury from

in 1965. In the central area were built many large shops, a bus station, and a large car park north of Castle Street. In 1969 proposals for the redevelopment of the central area were in hand, leading to the creation of the Castle shopping centre in 1977 (the centre was later combined into the Castle Quay centre). The 1977 plans to build a

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

on what is now the open air car park behind

Matalan Matalan Retail Ltd is a British clothing and homewares retailer based in Knowsley, Merseyside, founded by John Hargreaves in 1985. In August 1988, its operations director at the time, Duncan Sullivan, transformed Matalan into an out-of-town wa ...

and

Poundland Poundland Limited is a British variety store chain founded by Dave Dodd and Steven Smith in 1990, originally selling all of its items at the single price of £1. The retailer grew from a single location in Burton upon Trent, opening its hund ...

were scrapped in 1978 and another one was built to the rear of the Castle Shopping Centre in 1978. The former

Hunt Edmunds Hunt Edmunds was a brewery in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. History The brewery was founded by John Hunt in 1840, but it was Thomas Hunt who went into partnership with William Edmunds (1826–1908) in 1850. Edmunds' son, Charles Fletcher Edmund ...

brewery premises became

Crest Hotels Crest Hotels Limited was a Bass-Charrington subsidiary operating the hotel interests of the brewery company in the United Kingdom. Crest's headquarters were in the former Hunt Edmunds brewery premises in Banbury, Oxfordshire. History In 1 ...

headquarters, but closed in the late 1970s and was abandoned in the late 1980s, while the Crown Hotel and the Foremost Tyres/Excel Exhausts shops found new owners after they closed in 1976 due to falling sales.

Hella ''Hella'' is an American English slang term originating in and often associated with San Francisco's East Bay area in Northern California, possibly specifically emerging in the 1970s African-American vernacular of Oakland. It is used as an i ...

, a vehicle electronics firm, closed its factory on the Southam Road in the mid-2000s. The

ironmonger Ironmongery originally referred, first, to the manufacture of iron goods and, second, to the place of sale of such items for domestic rather than industrial use. In both contexts, the term has expanded to include items made of steel, aluminium ...

, Hoods, opened in the mid-1960s and closed in 2007, with the shop becoming part of the then enlarged

Marks and Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

Motorsport

Owing to the surrounding area's notable links with world

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

, the town is home to many well known organisations within the industry.

Prodrive Prodrive is an England, English motorsport and advanced engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire. History Prodrive was founded in 1984 by Ian Parry and David Richards (motorsport executive), David Richards. Prodrive sold its 51% s ...

, one of the world's largest motorsport and automotive technology specialists, is based in the town as are a host of race teams involved in competition across many different disciplines and countries. Within

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

, two teams have had their base of operations in Banbury. The

Simtek Simtek (Simulation Technology) was an engineering consultancy firm and Formula One racing team. The Formula One (F1) engineering consultancy arm, Simtek Research, was founded in 1989 by Max Mosley and Nick Wirth. It originally was involved i ...

team which competed in the 1994 and 1995 F1 World Championships was based on the Wildmere Industrial Estate. The

Marussia F1 The Marussia F1 Team (subsequently Manor Marussia F1 Team) was a Formula One racing team and constructor which was based in Banbury, Oxfordshire and then later Dinnington, South Yorkshire, Dinnington, South Yorkshire in the United Kingdom and co ...

team had its manufacturing and production facility sited on Thorpe Way Industrial Estate using the building formerly owned by

Ascari Cars Ascari Cars Ltd. was a British automobile manufacturer based in Banbury, England, and founded by Klaas Zwart. Zwart was the former chairman and majority owner of oil and gas company Petroline, which designed and manufactured its own downhole ...

, a luxury sports car manufacturer. Both Simtek and Marussia F1 had been brought to Banbury by

Nick Wirth Nicholas John Peter Wirth (born 26 March 1966) is an automotive engineer and the founder and owner of Wirth Research. He is also the former owner of the Simtek Formula One team, a former aerodynamicist at March Engineering, March and former tec ...

who owned the Simtek team and was the former Technical Director at Marussia. After Marussia F1 went into administration in 2014, their base was purchased by the United States–based

Haas F1 Team Haas Formula LLC, competing as MoneyGram Haas F1 Team, is an List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationality, American-licensed Formula One racing team established by NASCAR Cup Series team owner Gene Haas in April 2014. The team made its ...

to service their cars during the European races. Until 2017, when the team went into administration and subsequently folded,

Manor Racing Manor Grand Prix Racing Limited, trading as Manor Racing MRT or Pertamina Manor Racing MRT, was a British Formula One racing team and constructor based in Banbury, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. The outfit competed from 2010 to 2016: the te ...

(the successor to Marussia) was based in the town. Arden Motorsport, a British multi-formula motorsports team (founded by

Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing, currently competing as Oracle Red Bull Racing and also known simply as Red Bull or RBR, is a Formula One racing team, List of Formula One constructors#Team's nationality, competing under an Austrian racing licence and based in ...

boss

Christian Horner Christian Edward Johnston Horner (born 16 November 1973) is a British motorsport executive and former racing driver. Since 2005, Horner has served as team principal and chief executive officer, CEO of Red Bull Racing in Formula One, winning s ...

), is also based in the town. The

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars ...

teams

Mahindra Racing Mahindra Racing is a motor racing team based in Banbury, England, competing with an Indian racing license. It is part of the Mahindra Group. The team is currently competing in the electric FIA Formula E Championship and has been since the inaugu ...

and Andretti Formula E Team are based in Banbury.

Employment

Banbury has one of the UK's lowest unemployment rates, as of April 2016 it stood at 0.7%. Once Poland joined the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

in 2004, a number of Banbury-based

employment agencies An employment agency is an organization which matches employers to employees. In developed countries, there are multiple private businesses which act as employment agencies and a publicly funded employment agency. Public employment agencies One ...

began advertising for staff in major Polish newspapers. In 2006 one estimate placed between 5,000 and 6,000 Poles in the town. With the influx of the largely

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Poles, one local church was offering a

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

said partially in Polish and specialist Polish food shops had opened.

Companies and charities

, in the

ward of Banbury, is a large food and coffee producing factory. It was built in 1964 and has gone through a number of ownership changes since. It is still sometimes known by its previous names of Bird's,

Kraft Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

and

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by C. W. Post, Charles William (C. W.) Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, a ...

or GF. *

Westminster Group The Westminster Group is an English security company, headquartered in Banbury, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom. Corporate history Westminster was founded in 1988 as a security systems business, Westminster Security Systems, supplying systems an ...

* Norbar *

Arrival Arrival(s) or The Arrival(s) may refer to: Film * ''The Arrival'' (1991 film), an American science fiction horror film * ''The Arrival'' (1996 film), an American-Mexican science fiction horror film * ''Arrival'' (film), a 2016 American science ...

Waste & Resources Action Programme WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) is a British registered charity. It works with businesses, individuals and communities to achieve a circular economy, by helping them reduce waste, develop sustainable products and use resources in an e ...

Dogs for Good Dogs for Good (formerly Dogs for the Disabled ) is a UK-based charity training dogs to help adults and children with physical disabilities and learning disabilities, children with autism and adults with dementia. Until October 2015 it was call ...

Warburtons Warburtons Limited is a British baking firm founded by Thomas Warburton in 1876 and based in Bolton, a town formerly in Lancashire, England, and now in Greater Manchester. For much of its history Warburtons only had bakeries in Lancashire and ...

Cattle market

Banbury was once home to Western Europe's largest cattle market, on Merton Street in Grimsbury. The market was a key feature of

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

life in the town and county. It was formally closed in June 1998, after being abandoned several years earlier and was replaced with a new housing development and Dashwood Primary School.

Transport

Railway

Banbury railway station Banbury railway station serves the historic market town of Banbury in Oxfordshire, England. The station is a stop on the Chiltern Main Line; it is operated by Chiltern Railways and has four platforms in use. History Banbury Bridge Street stat ...

is served by three train operating companies: *

Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways (legal name The Chiltern Railway Company Limited) is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Rail ...

operates services on the

Chiltern Main Line The Chiltern Main Line is a railway line which links London () and Birmingham (Birmingham Moor Street railway station, Moor Street and Birmingham Snow Hill railway station, Snow Hill) on a route via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington ...

between and

, via *

runs services to and *

CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the current CrossCountry franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2006, ...

operates

inter-city Inter-city rail services are Express train, express trains that run services that connect cities over longer distances than Commuter rail, commuter or Regional rail, regional trains. They include rail services that are neither short-distance co ...

services between and , via , and .

Buses and coaches

The town's bus routes are operated primarily by

Stagecoach in Oxfordshire Stagecoach in Oxfordshire is the trading name of Thames Transit Ltd. It is a bus operator serving the county of Oxfordshire, England. Since 1997 has been a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group, and since February 2021 it has been part of Stagecoach ...

both within the town and linking it with

Brackley Brackley is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England. It is on the borders with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, east-southeast of Banbury, north-northeast of Oxford, and ...

Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswolds in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The United Kingdom Census 2011, 201 ...

and places further afield including

Daventry Daventry ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Northamptonshire unitary authority area of Northamptonshire, England, close to the border with Warwickshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census, Daventry had a populati ...

and

Roads

Hennef Way (

A422 The A422 is an "A" road for east–west journeys in south central England, connecting the county towns of Bedford and Worcester by way of Milton Keynes, Buckingham, Brackley, Banbury and Stratford-upon-Avon. For most of its length, it is a nar ...

) was upgraded to a dual carriageway, easing traffic on the heavily congested road and providing north Banbury and the town centre with higher-capacity links to the

M40 motorway The M40 motorway links London, Oxford, and Birmingham in England, a distance of approximately . The motorway is dual three lanes except for junction 1A to junction 3 (which is dual four lanes) a short section in-between the exit and entry hig ...

Canal

The

is a popular place for pleasure trips and tourism. The canal's main boatyard is now the listed site

Media

The ''

Banbury Guardian The ''Banbury Guardian'' is a local Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Banbury, Oxfordshire. It serves north Oxfordshire, southwest Northamptonshire and southeast Warwickshire. Its sister paper, ''The Banbury & District Re ...

'' is published weekly on Thursdays by

Johnston Press Johnston Press plc was a multimedia company founded in Falkirk, Scotland, in 1767. Its flagship titles included UK-national newspaper the '' i'', ''The Scotsman'', the ''Yorkshire Post'', the ''Falkirk Herald'', and Belfast's ''The News Letter'' ...

, is priced for sale and is a tabloid. The ''

Banbury Cake A Banbury cake is a spiced, oval-shaped, currant-filled pastry. Since the mid-19th century, Banbury cakes have grown increasingly similar to Eccles cakes; but the earlier versions were quite different from the modern pastry. Besides currants, ...

'' was formerly a free newspaper: its print edition ceased publication in 2017 and its website subsequently also closed. Regional TV news is provided by

BBC South BBC South is the BBC English Region serving Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Dorset, West Sussex, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and parts of Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Surrey, and Wiltshire, with geographic coverage varying between ...

and

ITV Meridian ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at midnight on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned ...

. Television signals received from the

TV transmitter, although some parts of the town get a better TV signal from the local relay transmitter which is served by

BBC West Midlands BBC Midlands is the BBC English Regions, BBC English Region producing local radio and World Wide Web, web content for the City of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcest ...

and

ITV Central ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee in the English Midlands. It was created following ...

. Local radio stations are

BBC Radio Oxford BBC Radio Oxford is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the county of Oxfordshire. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Summertown, Oxfo ...

Heart South Heart South is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the south and south east of England. The station launched on 3 June 2019 as a result of a merger between four sister stations: H ...

, and

Capital Mid-Counties Capital Mid-Counties is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Coventry, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, south Staffordshire, the Cotswolds and north Oxfordshire. The station launch ...

. Banbury Music Radio was a local Internet

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

Places of interest

Banbury Cross

At one time Banbury had many crosses (the High Cross, the Bread Cross and the White Cross), but these were destroyed by

s in 1600. Banbury remained without a cross for more than 250 years until the current Banbury Cross was erected in 1859 at the centre of the town to commemorate the marriage of

Victoria, Princess Royal Victoria, Princess Royal (Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa; 21 November 1840 – 5 August 1901) was German Empress and Queen of Prussia as the wife of Frederick III, German Emperor. She was the eldest child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom ...

(eldest child of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

) to Prince Frederick of Prussia. The current Banbury Cross is a stone, spire-shaped monument decorated in Gothic form. Statues of Queen Victoria,

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

and

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

were added in 1914 to commemorate the coronation of George V. The cross is high, and topped by a gilt cross. Towns with crosses in England before the reformation were places of Christian pilgrimage. The English

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fr ...

Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross "Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross" is an English language nursery rhyme connected with the English town Banbury in Oxfordshire. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 21143. Lyrics Common modern versions include: Ride a cock-horse to Ban ...

", in its several forms, may refer to one of the crosses destroyed by Puritans in 1600."History muddle makes Banbury cross"
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'', 30 June 2003. In April 2005,

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950) is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of King ...

unveiled a large bronze statue depicting the Fine Lady upon a White Horse of the nursery rhyme. It stands on the corner of West Bar and South Bar, just yards from the present Banbury Cross.

Banbury Museum & Gallery

Banbury has a museum in the town centre near Spiceball Park, replacing the old museum near Banbury Cross. It is accessible over a bridge from the Castle Quay Shopping Centre or ''via'' Spiceball Park Road. Admission to the museum is free. The town's tourist information centre is located in the museum entrance in the Castle Quay Shopping Centre.

Tooley's Boatyard

was built in 1778 and is a historic site with a nearly 250-year-old blacksmiths' shop and narrow boat dry dock.

Spiceball Centre and Park

Spiceball Park is the largest

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 Banbury. It is east of the

, mainly west of the

, north of Castle Quay and south of Hennef Way. It includes three large fields, a children's play area and a skateboard park. Across the road from the main park there is the sports centre, which includes a swimming pool, courts, café and gym facilities. The

sports centre A leisure centre, sports centre, or recreation centre is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and provided by the local government authority, where people can engage in a variety of sports and exercise, and keep fit. Typical facilit ...

began to be re-developed in late 2009, for a new centre and café, which was completed by mid 2010.

Other recreational areas and parks

Neithrop is home to the People's Park which opened in 1910, and has a bird house, tennis courts, a large field and a children's play area. The park is often used in the summer to hold small festivals. The park is also one of the town's biggest in terms of the area covered and one of the few major ones not to be built on a steep hill. Easington Recreation Ground is another principal park and recreational area.

Notable place names

*Since 1999 bridge 164 on the

in Banbury has borne

Tom Rolt Lionel Thomas Caswall Rolt (usually abbreviated to Tom Rolt or L. T. C. Rolt) (11 February 1910 – 9 May 1974) was a prolific English writer and the biographer of major civil engineering figures, including Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Thomas Te ...

's name in commemoration of his book ''

Narrow Boat A narrowboat is a particular type of canal boat, built to fit the narrow locks of the United Kingdom. The UK's canal system provided a nationwide transport network during the Industrial Revolution, but with the advent of the railways, commer ...

'' (as does the Tom Rolt Centre at the

Ellesmere Port Ellesmere Port ( ) is a port town in the Cheshire West and Chester borough in Cheshire, England. Ellesmere Port is on the south-eastern edge of the Wirral Peninsula, north of Chester, on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. In the 2021 Unite ...

section of the

National Waterways Museum The National Waterways Museum (NWM) is a transport museum, at Ellesmere Port in the English county of Cheshire, which concentrates on the history of Britain's navigable inland waterways. Until 2010, the Waterways Trust operated three sites, incl ...

). A

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

commemorating Rolt was unveiled at

, Banbury on 7 August 2010 as part of the centenary celebrations of his birth. *Concorde Avenue was named in a 1995 street naming contest in honour of the 50 years' peace (1945–1995) in Europe since the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. *Claypits Close was built in about 2007 and named after the old clay pit on which it was built. There were many small,

clay pits and kilns in the south west of Banbury, but they had closed by the 1920s. *Gillett Road was named after either Joseph Ashby Gillett, who ran Banbury's branch of 18th century Britain's ''New Bank'', or his descendant Sarah Beatrice Gillett, who was mayor in 1926.

Education

One of the campuses of

Activate Learning Activate Learning is an education and training group based in Oxford. It runs schools, further education colleges and work-based training across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Surrey, and delivers higher-education and international study programmes ...

, Banbury and Bicester College, as well as one of the international campuses of

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University () is a private university with its main campuses in New Jersey, located in Madison / Florham Park and in Teaneck / Hackensack. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University offers more than 100 degree prog ...

Wroxton Abbey Wroxton Abbey is a Jacobean house in Oxfordshire, with a 1727 garden partly converted to the serpentine style between 1731 and 1751. It is west of Banbury, off the A422 road in Wroxton. It is now the English campus of Fairleigh Dickinson Univ ...

are situated in Banbury. The town also has four secondary schools –

North Oxfordshire Academy North Oxfordshire Academy (known locally by the abbreviation NOA) is a coeducational academy school in Banbury, Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by N ...

Wykham Park Academy Wykham Park Academy is a coeducational Academy (English school), academy school situated on Ruskin Road, in the Easington, Banbury, Oxfordshire, Easington ward of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. The school has a sixth form. Formerly Banbury Schoo ...

, Space Studio Banbury and

Blessed George Napier Roman Catholic School Blessed George Napier Catholic School, known locally as BGN, is a Catholic secondary school and sixth form with academy status. It is located on Addison Road in the Easington ward of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. Foundation The school is na ...

– and a number of

primary schools A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. Independent schools in Banbury include Tudor Hall and Al-Madina School.

Religion

In 1377 a pardon was given to a Welshman, who was wanted for killing another Welshman, after the accused person had taken sanctuary in St Mary's parish church. The

district of Banbury was the scene of rioting in 1589 after Neithrop's

maypole A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European List of folk festivals, folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on May Day, 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some co ...

was destroyed by

Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...

. Reverend William Whateley (1583–1639), whose father was several times

bailiff A bailiff is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. There are different kinds, and their offices and scope of duties vary. Another official sometimes referred to as a '' ...

or mayor of Banbury, was a notable Banbury vicar, who was instituted in 1610 but had already been a '

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

' there for some years. In 1626 Whateley refused communion to his own brother, who had been presented for religious incompetence. A report by the

church warden A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion, Lutheran Churches or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' mem ...

s in 1619 said he was a well liked and tolerant priest. The

Quaker meeting house A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where meeting for worship is usually held. Typically, Friends meeting houses are simple and resemble local residential buildings. Ornamentation, spires, a ...

by the town centre lane called 'The Leys' was built between 1748 and 1750. In 1838, the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

St John the Evangelist Church was built, parts of it were designed by

Augustus Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 1812 – 14 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival architecture ...

and it is a Grade II listed building.

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

Banbury - St John the Evangelist
''Taking Stock'', retrieved 9 June 2022 In 1968, St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church was built on Edmunds Road which was at first a mass centre for St. John's.

Demographics

At the 2021 census there were 54,335 residents in the parish of Banbury, up from 46,853 in the 2011 census, and 41,801 in the 2001 census. The built up area (as defined by the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible fo ...

) had a population of 52,045 in 2021. In terms of ethnicity in 2021: *84.3% of Banbury residents were

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

*8.8% were Asian *2.3% were

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

*3.1% were Mixed. *1.2% were from another ethnic group. In terms of religion, 50.6% of Banbury residents identified as

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, 40.0% said they had no religion, 6.9% were

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, 0.7% were

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

, 0.6% were

Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

, 0.6% were

Buddhists Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. It is the world's fourth ...

, and 0.6% were from another religion.

Sport

Banbury has several sporting clubs, most notably

Banbury United Banbury United Football Club is a football club based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Spencer Stadium. History The club was established in 1931 as Spencer Sports Club, a works team of the Sp ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club. There are also

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

( Banbury RUFC),

canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. In some parts of Europe, canoeing refers to both canoeing and kayaking, with a canoe being called an 'open canoe' or Canadian. A few of the recreational ...

, golf, running,

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

clubs. These clubs represent a variety of age groups, and play at varying levels, from amateur to national.

Banbury United F.C. Banbury United Football Club is a football club based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Spencer Stadium. History The club was established in 1931 as Spencer Sports Club, a works team of the Sp ...

was first formed as Spencer Villa in 1931 and their home matches played at Middleton Road. At this time it was essentially a works club. In 1934, they changed their name to Banbury Spencer and moved to the Spencer Stadium. Banbury and District Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1904. The club disappeared in the mid-1920s. A

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

track was opened during the summer of 1951, north of Banbury town centre on the east side of Southam Road. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the

National Greyhound Racing Club The National Greyhound Racing Club was an organisation that governed Greyhound racing in the United Kingdom Greyhound racing is a sport in the United Kingdom. The industry uses a parimutuel betting tote system with on-course and off-course be ...

) known as a flapping track, which was the nickname given to independent tracks. The racing lasted until the latter part of 1954. American

European forward base of operation is located in Banbury after the collapse of

formerly based in Banbury until the team went into administration in 2016. A number of other motor racing teams have been based in and around Banbury, including

Arden International Arden International, competing as Arden Motorsport, is a multiple formula racing team created and run by Christian Horner and Garry Horner. It currently competes in the GB4 Championship, and formerly ran in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, Formula ...

and

Virgin Racing Virgin Racing (subsequently Marussia Virgin Racing) was a Formula One racing team which was under management of Manor Motorsport, Wirth Research and Richard Branson's Virgin Group and competed in with a List of Formula One constructors#Team's ...

Twinning

Banbury is twinned with: *

Ermont Ermont () is a Communes of France, commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. It has around 28,000 inhabitants, which makes Ermont one of the most import ...

in France, since 1982. *

Hennef Hennef (Sieg) () is a town in the Rhein-Sieg district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the river Sieg (river), Sieg, approx. south-east of Siegburg and east of Bonn. Hennef is the fourth-biggest town in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis ...

in Germany, since 1981. Twinning in Banbury began on 26 October 1978, at a public meeting held at the Post-Graduate Education Centre, and called on the initiative of the late Councillor Ron Smith, the then Town Mayor of Banbury. Initial visits between Banbury and

in 1979, and for a long time after there was a period of informal relationship before a formal agreement was signed in 1982. Contact was first made with

about a possible agreement in October 1980 and within a year the formal agreement was signed. As a consequence of this, two roads in Banbury (Hennef Way and Ermont Way) have been named after the two towns. Likewise a former Railway station square in

has been named Banburyplatz.

Notable people

Alfie Barbeary Alfie Barbeary (born 5 October 2000) is an English professional rugby union player who plays as a number eight for Premiership Rugby club Bath. He now plays in the back row having previously focused on hooker. Early life Born in Banbury, Ox ...

, rugby union player for

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

. *

John Brooke-Little John Philip Brooke Brooke-Little (6 April 1927 – 13 February 2006) was an English writer on heraldry, heraldic subjects, and a long-serving herald at the College of Arms in London. In 1947, while still a student, Brooke-Little founded the Soc ...

was a former

officer of arms An officer of arms is a person appointed by a sovereign or state with authority to perform one or more of the following functions: * to control and initiate armorial matters; * to arrange and participate in ceremonies of state; * to conserve ...

who lived in Banbury at the end of his life. * Novelist

Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dy ...

taught at Banbury Grammar School (now

) for several years during the 1950s. *

Benjamin Geen Benjamin Geen is a British repeat murderer and former nurse who was convicted of killing two of his own patients and committing grievous bodily harm against 15 others while working at Horton General Hospital in Banbury, Oxfordshire in 2003 and ...

was born in Banbury and employed as a staff nurse at the

Horton General Hospital The Horton General Hospital is a National Health Service hospital located on the Oxford Road, in the Calthorpe ward of Banbury. It is managed by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. History Pre-1948 The earliest part of the hospit ...

. During December 2003 and January 2004, Geen poisoned 17 patients for the thrill of trying to resuscitate them. He was found guilty of two murders and 15 charges of grievous bodily harm in April 2006. *

Gary Glitter Paul Francis Gadd (born 8 May 1944), better known by his stage name Gary Glitter, is an English former singer who achieved fame and success during the 1970s and 1980s. His career ended after he was convicted of downloading child pornography i ...

, born in Banbury as Paul Francis Gadd;

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...

singer and convicted child sex offender. *

Larry Grayson Larry Grayson (31 August 1923 – 7 January 1995), born William Sulley White, was an English comedian and television presenter. He hosted the BBC's Saturday-night peak-time TV game show ''The Generation Game'' in the late 1970s and early 1980s, ...

, comedian and television presenter, was born in Banbury, but grew up in

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire to the north-east.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 censu ...

. *

Thomas Butler Gunn Thomas Butler Gunn (15 February 1826 – 7 April 1904) was an English born illustrator, writer and war correspondent who spent fourteen years in America. His diaries of this period provide details of his life amongst the bohemian writers and artis ...

was a Banbury born illustrator, writer and war correspondent. *

Richie Hawtin Richard "Richie" Hawtin (born June 4, 1970) is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He becam ...

, electronic musician and DJ, was born in Banbury. *

Alan Hodgkin Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (5 February 1914 – 20 December 1998) was an English physiology, physiologist and biophysics, biophysicist who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Andrew Huxley and John Eccles (neurophysiologist) ...

, British physiologist and biophysicist and

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...

winner, was born in Banbury *

Lancelot Holland Vice-Admiral Lancelot Ernest Holland, (13 September 1887 – 24 May 1941) was a Royal Navy officer who commanded the British force in the Battle of the Denmark Strait in May 1941 against the German battleship ''Bismarck''. Holland was lost w ...

, the admiral who was killed aboard in 1941 commanding the fleet that engaged the , grew up in the Banbury area. * Television hypnotist and hypnotherapist

Chris Hughes Christopher Hughes (born November 26, 1983) is an American entrepreneur and author who co-founded and served as spokesman for the online social directory and networking site Facebook until 2007. He was the publisher and editor-in-chief of ''The ...

was born in Banbury, but grew up in

Ardley Ardley is an English toponym and may refer to: Places * Ardley Cove, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica * Ardley Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica * Ardley, Alberta, Canada * Ardley, Oxfordshire, UK ** Ardley Castle Ardley Castle was a ...

. * Actress

Jo Joyner Joanne Mary Joyner (born 24 May 1977) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Tanya Branning in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' and Mandy Carter in the Channel 4 school drama '' Ackley Bridge''. From 2018, she has starred as Lue ...

(

Tanya Branning Tanya Branning (also Cross and Jessop) is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Jo Joyner. She made her first appearance on 27 June 2006. Joyner left the show temporarily on 25 December 2009 for maternity le ...

in ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'') grew up in

and studied at the Warriner School. *

William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury William Knollys, 1st Earl of Banbury (1544 – 25 May 1632) was an English nobleman at the court of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. Biography He was the son of Sir Francis Knollys, of Greys Court in Oxfordshire, and of Reading, in Berk ...

, Lord High Admiral and

First Lord of the Admiralty First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...

of England 1646–1660. * Prime Minister

Lord North Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most of the ...

was MP for Banbury from 1754 to 1790. *

Javad Nurbakhsh Javad Nurbakhsh (; 10 December 1926 – 10 October 2008) was the Master ('' pir'') of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order from 1953 until his death. He was also a psychiatrist and a successful writer in the fields of both psychiatry and Sufi mysticism. ...

, former Master of the

Ni'matullāhī The Ni'matullāhī or Ne'matollāhī () (also spelled as "Nimatollahi", "Nematollahi" or "Ni'matallahi) is a Sufi order (or ''tariqa'') originating in Iran. The order is named after its 14th century CE Sunni founder and qotb, Shah Nimatullah (N ...

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

, lived, died and was buried near Banbury. *

Tim Plester Timothy Marc Plester (born 10 September 1970) is a British actor, playwright, and filmmaker, best known for the documentaries '' Way of the Morris'' and ''The Ballad of Shirley Collins'' - plus a multifarious number of cameo roles for film and ...

, actor, playwright and film maker, was born and grew up in Banbury * Chef and ''

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, or Midtown West on real estate listings, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, ...

'' star

Gordon Ramsay Gordon James Ramsay (; born ) is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, television presenter, and writer. His restaurant group, List of restaurants owned or operated by Gordon Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has ...

moved to Banbury at the age of 16. *

Barrie Trinder Barrie Stuart Trinder (born 1939) is a British historian and writer on industrial archaeology. After a career in teaching, he took a PhD with the University of Leicester, graduating in 1980 for a thesis on the history of Banbury. He then became a ...

, historian and industrial archaeologist, was born in BanburyBarrie S Trinder.
Family Search. Retrieved 17 June 2023. *

Rodney Gould Rodney Gould (10 March 1943 – 16 April 2024) was a British Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and UK short circuit specialist. Gould began racing in 1961 and made his first Isle of Man TT appearance in 1967 Events January * January ...

, former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and UK short circuit specialist, who was born in Banbury; he was the 250cc world champion in 1970.

Arms

References

External links

*
Banbury town council
* {{Authority control Banbury, Market towns in Oxfordshire Civil parishes in Oxfordshire Market crosses in England

Toponymy

History

Banburyshire

Governance

Administrative history

Geography

Industry and commerce

Motorsport

Employment

Companies and charities

Cattle market

Transport

Railway

Buses and coaches

Roads

Canal

Media

Places of interest

Banbury Cross

Banbury Museum & Gallery

Tooley's Boatyard

Spiceball Centre and Park

Other recreational areas and parks

Notable place names

Education

Religion

Demographics

Sport

Twinning

Notable people

Arms

See also

References

Further reading

External links