BANBURY, a parish and borough and market-town, having separate jurisdiction,
locally in the hundred of Banbury, county of OXFORD, 22 miles (N.) from Oxford, and
73 (N. W.) from London, containing, with the hamlet of
Neithrop, 5247 inhabitants. This place, by the Saxons called
Banesbyrig, of which its present name is a contraction,
is supposed to have been occupied
by the Romans, and this opinion has been confirmed
by the discovery of some Roman coins and an
altar. A castle was built here, about 1153, by Alexander,
Bishop of Lincoln, which continued an episcopal
residence till the first year of the reign of Edward VI.
"In this castle," says Leland, "is a terrible prison for
convict men." During the war between the houses of
York and Lancaster the neighbourhood was the scene
of frequent conflicts: the most disastrous of these was
the battle of Banbury, fought, in 1469, on a plain called
Danesmore, near Edgecote, a village about three miles
distant, between the forces under the celebrated Earl of
Warwick, and a numerous army, which, under the command
of the Earls of Pembroke and Stafford, had
obtained possession of the town. The Yorkists were
defeated; Pembroke and his brother, Sir Richard Herbert,
were both taken and beheaded, and, in a few days,
Edward IV. himself was made prisoner. At the commencement
of the war between Charles I. and the parliament,
the inhabitants espoused the cause of the latter,
by whom the castle was garrisoned. After the battle of
Edgehill, it was taken by the royalists, and defended
by Sir William Compton, against Col. John Fiennes, the
parliamentary officer, for thirteen weeks, till the garrison
was relieved by the Earl of Northampton. It was
afterwards besieged by Col. Whalley for ten weeks,
when the king having joined the Scottish army, it was
surrendered on honourable terms. Of this fortress, a
stone vault with grated windows, supposed to have
been the dungeon, and traces of the inner ditch, existed
in Leland's time, and there are still some vestiges. The
town is pleasantly situated in a fertile valley, on the
banks of the small river Cherwell, and has been greatly
improved under an act of parliament passed in the fourth
year of the reign of George IV.: the houses are well
built, the streets lighted with oil, and the inhabitants
plentifully supplied with water. There is a public subscription
library. The manufacture of plush shag and
girth-webbing was formerly carried on to a considerable
extent, but has greatly declined. A great quantity o£
cheese of a very superior quality is made, for which, and
for its well-known cakes, Banbury has long been famous.
The Oxford canal comes up to the town. The market,
which was greatly celebrated in the time of Henry VIII.,
is on Thursday: fairs are held on January 22nd, March
5th, April 9th, May 28th, June 18th, July 9th, August
13th, September 10th, October 5th and 30th, and December
17th. The government, by charter of incorporation
granted by Mary, confirmed by James, and enlarged
by George I., is vested in a mayor, high steward, recorder,
twelve aldermen, six capital burgesses, and thirty assistants,
with a town clerk, chamberlain, and other officers..
The mayor, who is elected from among the aldermen, on
the first Monday in Septemher, and two of the aldermen,
are justices of the peace within the borough, and hold
regularly a petty session every Monday, and a general
session twice a year. The corporation possess the power
of holding a court of record for the recovery of debts
under £40, but have discontinued the exercise of it.
The elective franchise was conferred in the reign of
Mary, since which time the borough has returned one
member to parliament: the right of election is vested
in the mayor and capital burgesses j the mayor is the
returning officer, and the influence of the Marquis of
Bute predominates.
The living is a discharged vicarage, within the jurisdiction
of the peculiar court of Banbury, rated in the
king's books at £22. 0. 2., endowed with £200 private
benefaction, £400 royal bounty, and £600 parliamentary
grant, and in the patronage of the Bishop of Oxford.
The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a very
handsome and spacious structure, rebuilt under the
authority of an act of parliament obtained in 1790,
at an expense of nearly £30,000. There are places
of worship for the Society of Friends, Independents,
Wesleyan Methodists, and Unitarians. A free grammar
school, which formerly existed here, was held in such
high estimation, that the statutes of St. Paul's school,
London, are said to have been drawn up on the model
of those of Banbury school. One of the masters, Mr.
Stanbridge, was tutor to the celebrated Sir Thomas
Pope; and so great was the fame which this institution
had acquired, that the statutes of the free grammar
school at Manchester, dated 1524, ordain that grammar
be there taught "after the manner of the school at
Banbury, in Oxfordshire, which is called Stanbridge
grammar." This school has been wholly abandoned
for many years, and the building, formerly called the
Church School, let on lease by the corporation. A
Blue-coat school, established by subscription in 1705,
and endowed with property to the amount of £80 per
annum, was, in 1807, incorporated with a National school
formed in that year, to which a Sunday school is attached,
supported by the interest of £295. 1. 6. three
per cent, consols., purchased by a legacy of £200 under
the will of Sir John Knightley. An unendowed almshouse
was rebuilt by Francis, Lord Guildford, for
twelve poor persons, who are appointed by the corporation,
eight of them receiving also part of a charitable
fund called the widow's groats. Various other charities
are periodically distributed, and certain lands are especially
set apart for repairing the bridge, highways, &c.
An 'ancient hospital, dedicated to St. John, has been
converted into a farm-house. Adjoining the Ram Inn
there is a sulphureous well, and, at a short distance
from the town, a chalybeate spring. The pyrites aureus,
or golden fire-stone, is frequently found in digging wells.
There is also an amphitheatre, called the " Bear Garden,"
having two rows of seats cut in the rising ground;
and on Crouch hill, a mile westward, are vestiges of
a circular intrenchment, the site of which was chosen
for an encampment by Sir W. Waller, in 1644.