Edge Hill: The Battle and Battlefield; With Notes on Banbury & Thereabout

HORLEY.—Altitudes, 500-400; population, 247; is 4 miles north-west of Banbury, and may be reached by a pleasant footpath passing over Ruscot Hill and through Drayton fields. The village stands at the neck dividing two of the high vales of North Oxon, the Lias ironstone covering all the high lands thereabouts. St. Ethelreda’s Church, plain, square towered and full of good old Early English work, is in mid village; the two pointed arches between chancel and nave, the old glass of the north aisle and the great mural painting of Saint Christopher, the Christ bearer, with the legend:

 
“What are thou; and art so yying
Bar I never so heavy a thinge.”
“Yey, I be hevy, no wunther nys
For I am the Kynge of blys.”
 

All these, and the organ (1765), are worth the passing hour of the wayfarer. Many of the houses, for instance that of Mr. B. Hirons, are of good proportion and build. At the north-west end of the village, Clump Lane leads to some beautifully terraced fields known as Steps Meadow and Hadsham Hollow, and the footway along the high bank to the near village of Hornton is also one of the pleasant ways of the countryside. At the Yellow Well beyond the Horley House a dole of bread was wont to be made on St. Thomas’s day.

RADWAY.—Altitude, 400; population, 216; 9 miles north-west of Banbury; is pleasantly reached by the pathway below the Tower at Ratley Grange. Radway Grange by alteration about 1735 lost most of its good features as a building—it stands on the slopes of its park land at the foot of the hill. The farm pool runs close to the road side, and a pleasant prospect of the hill side is got through its foliage. The church is more noticeable for its enclosure of the Kingsmill monument, one of the burials of the Edge Hill fight, than for its architectural style. The wide openings of the village and the high wooded lanes of the Edge are diversified with many a pleasant path and resting place.

WARMINGTON.—Altitudes: high town, 600; low town, 409; population, 269. The village is within the Warwickshire border, 5½ miles to the north of Banbury, and is built on the slopes of a continuation of the Edge Hill escarpment. From the south side it is hidden from view by the woods of Deddington Hill. The church stands on a bold mass of Lias rock jutting into the roadway, and with the old homesteads surrounding the green and pool and the high banks clothed with wood and orchard, have given Warmington a high reputation for beauty even amongst the many beautiful villages near it. St. Nicholas’ Church is known to antiquarians more by the plain solidity of its work than by any richness of ornamentation. It has heavy Norman and early English piers, and sedilia and piscina in the chancel with Norman enrichment. The priest’s house, one of the best of the countryside, is on the north side. It has done service as vestry also, and in the window embrasure in the upper room is a stone altar table. There is the ancient stone fireplace also, and a window from which the altar could be watched. The headstone in the churchyard to Captain Gourdin stands by the path to the Banbury road. The Manor House facing the pool dates from the later days of Henry VIII.’s reign. Though now in use as two homes, its hall and oak stairway retain their old style. Of the usual type with projecting wings and recessed entrance, it looks over the pool and wide green to the Dassett hills in front. A pathway from the south-west corner of the churchyard passes through the woods of Deddington Hill and commands good views of the dale.

RATLEY.—Altitudes, high town, 680; low town, 593; 8 miles north-west of Banbury. At the point of the long vale, beginning a little south of Ratley Grange, is Ratley, built in terraces on the hill slope. The red rock of the Lias covers the brow and high slope; the low town is on the yellow marls. If it were not for Warmington, it might be said to be the prettiest village in the district. Descending springs make at their several outbursts the Bachelor’s Trough and the Gogswell. The temperature of the Bachelor’s Trough would seem to be low enough for the humane purposes of past days. The Church of St. Peter ad Vincula at the hill foot, with a plain and square tower, bears good appearance from the height and beauty of the windows (15th century) and the spacious porch of the north side. In the churchyard on the same side is a cross with steps, plinth and head in far better preservation than others of the countryside. A curious hummock at the south-west end of the village is known as the Castle Mound, but it is probably but a terraced bank naturally formed. Near by is the old manor house, in bad repair. Beautiful field-ways bear to Arlescot, Warmington, Hornton, and Horley. The Arlescot path is known as the Tryst-path.

WORMLEIGHTON.—Altitude, 431; population, 191. The village, a few houses between the mansion and the highway, is on the ridge of the water parting between the Cherwell and the Avon. The three shire stone is near by. Hidden by trees from the main road the older settlement is not seen until quite near, where ampler width of roadway brings tower, house and church into view. The gateway tower, as the dated shields (1613) tell, is of later building than the house. It is a plain square tower with connected side buildings all of the local (Hornton) stone. The archway of the tower is of good proportions, bearing on the west and south fronts in stone entablature shields and coats of arms of the Spencers, the latter with the motto “Dieu defende droit.” Inside the archway are warder’s doors on either side, though the approach to the turret is now by an adjoining building. The ancient turret clock tells time only by its bell.

The manor was bought by John Spencer, Esq., of Sir Wm. Cope, of Hanwell, in Henry VII.’s days, and the house was built then. It is of the usual flat red brick of the time, with stone quoins; such as we see of it on the north and east sides, of handsome proportions and style, and embattled. It was entered in the inquisition of the time as having sixty persons in residence, and was then of ampler state and extent. The Tudor brickwork, though not so elaborated as Compton Wynyates, makes, with that of Hanwell Castle, good local study. On the south side, a postern leads to the hall, and of the old front the brickwork and crenellations of the angle remain. The north entrance, though with no porch now, is at once seen to be the main way by the proportions of the lobby and its panelled ceiling. On the right and the left in the lobby are doorways, the one bearing corner shields and the other triple shields of the house (fret d’or and escallops of the field). The left doorway opens to the hall, a fine plain room with large oriel window with bold stone mullions. Above is the star chamber: the gilt stars remain here and there on the timber work. It is of like size to the hall, with similar east windows and west side windows, nearly all bricked up, and a good fireplace with corner shields. It is coloured to resemble Purbeck marble. Leads and battlements above with covered niches show the semi-defensive house type of Tudor time. It is said to have been garrisoned by the Parliamentarians on the evening of the Edge Hill fight, and that the garrison was captured or driven out by Prince Rupert. But as to the burning of the house, it is not clear whether it was then partly destroyed or late in the year after. The Lord Spencer, a King’s man, though at first Parliamentarian, had little liking for Court ways, and lost his life at the battle of Newbury. Whether the house at Watergall, two miles to the North-west, of which the foundations only remain, was of the Spencer holding, and of its fate there is no evidence. The escallops of the field of the Spencer arms probably find their origin in the fossil escallops of the Wormleighton stone.

St. Peter’s Church near by, though plain in all its external decoration, retains in the interior some work typical of the district. The enamelled tiles with figures and geometric ornament, the panelling of the chancel and the carved grotesques of the bench ends are good early work. The handsome chancel screen removed from the hall, though large for its place, is of skilled later workmanship; especially rich are the spandrils and ornament on the inner side of the screen. On the west chancel wall is a mural tablet to Robert E. Spencer, of date 1610, and an empty tomb is in an inlet in the north wall of the aisle. Arms of the Spencer family are on the wall above the belfry arch. A south doorway in the tower and the carved heads of the tower moulding are worth notice.

SHUTFORD.—Altitudes: high level, 485; low level, 400; population, 283; is on the inner fringe of hills of the west Oxfordshire border. It rests mainly on the red rock of the Middle Lias, there as much as 20 to 25 feet thick. Though mainly of plain agricultural homesteads, it supports a small community of plush weavers who settled there many generations since, and who weave a fabric of good repute. The Manor House at the east entrance to the village is by its height a conspicuous landmark. In the excellence and strength of its masonry it stands amongst the best of our good houses. On the south front are porch and square-headed doorway with plain good moulding and a smaller (postern) door of similar type opening to one of the south-west rooms. The house appears to be of the style of Broughton, but of later date, and it is part of the Castle estate. It is not crenellated, but has similar stone gabling and somewhat smaller windows. The north front, with projecting wing and entrance, presents a solid wall of stone covered with fine flint concrete. In its upper storey an angled fire place and room point to the place of a recluse. The long room of the upper storey is large enough for the “the stowering of a troop”—if time allowed the quartering of King Charles or Oliver Cromwell in a new place a legend might be found—it must suffice to know that it was probably the home of the famous Puritan soldier Nathaniel Fiennes. The hall, well lighted and with good panelling, is at the north-east of the building, the further extent of the house on the west side of the court yard is shown by the old foundation. The kitchen yet keeps its recessed fireplace of ample space. In the south room there is a chimney piece of Hornton stone with lozenge-shaped ornament, and the floor stone of the same kind is unusually good. The Diary of Celia Fiennes, in the time of William and Mary, mentions “a neate little house and gardens” at Shuttford.

St. Martin’s Church, in close touch with the Manor, is of plain early English work, with a buttressed and pinnacled tower of small proportions. The nave is on the south side with north chapelry or Lady aisle, heavy Norman pillars and plain chancel screen. A garden facing the west front has a stone sun-dial, its plinth covered with ivy, and near by a low stone building known as the Monastery, said to have been a foundation of the Knights of St. John. The stonework of the doorway, windows, and stone bench in the interior are parts of the early work of the house.