Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The twinned Hillmorton locks
.
The Old Canal Wharf used to be a toll collection point. These days people pay for the af-
ternoon teas it provides.
Banbury begins with a foundry that takes its cooling water from the canal. A westerly
wind brings the aromas of Maxwell House coffee from Britain's largest coffee factory, cocoa,
Bird's custard and baking bread from the Fine Lady ovens.
Banbury has had a poor record of civic vandalism in the past. The cross of nursery rhyme
fame was pulled down by the Puritans in 1602, the fine lady probably being a girl in a May
Day procession. The current cross is a replica of 1859. The Perpendicular Cathedral of North
Oxfordshire needed renovation; instead it was blown up (a cheaper option), the 'unsafe' por-
tion surviving the explosion. Its replacement of 1793 by SP Cockrell is described as looking
like a gaol.
Banbury, from the Old English for Banna's stronghold, was a wool town and formerly had
the largest cattle market in Europe. It has not always been as idyllic as it seems, however.
Above the ridge on the left is the Upper Heyford Airfield, one of the two bases from which
the US Air Force bombed Tripoli. Now closed, it was one of the three finalists for the nation-
al sporting academy venue and the British Olympic Association's preferred choice, but it lost
out to Sheffield.
Hanging judge Sir Francis Page, who lived from 1661 to 1741, sold Middle Aston to Sir
Clement Cottrell Dormer and concentrated on Steeple Aston. Here he had graves in St Peter's
church moved to make way for a large one for himself and his wife. The 1730 Page monu-
ment shows the 70-year-old judge seated in his robes with his 40-year-old wife lying rather
less robed at his feet.
