sign in sign up
<<
Home , Banbury, Cropredy, Cropredy Bridge, Prescote

M LEAMINGTON 4 A361 0 SPA 15 M1 14 46 A 13 A423 16

Stratford- A5 upon-Avon 15A 12 3 15

A361 4

A3400 A 429 A

M40 M 1 A5

429 Milton A 11 A Keynes A3400 4 22 A43 ay

Fossew M40 To A421 S A361 A4260 A43 D L

O

W 10 A421 S Chipping T Norton O A4

C 4 E

R 1 I A361 4

H 9 A A41 S

D M40

R Woodstock O To

Cheltenham A34 F

X O A40 A40 A40 Location Map A34 8 8

Acknowledgements

The production of this leaflet would not have been possible without the help of: Cropredy Parish Council and Cropredy Historical Society

Additional Information

All of Council's circular walks and rides are published on the Council website and can be downloaded free. Leaflets can be purchased from Banbury Tourist Information Centre (01295 259855). For further information about circular walks and rides, guided walks and grants available for countryside access projects, please contact:-

Leisure Services Department Cherwell District Council House, Bodicote Banbury, Oxon, OX15 4AA Telephone 01295 221706 [email protected] www.cherwell-dc.gov.uk

] Printed on Recycled paper

Designed by TCG Advertising and Design Ltd. Cropredy Battlefield Walk Places to Eat & Drink Approx 4.5miles / 7km

The Red Lion Inn The Cropredy Circular Walk is one of a series of guided trails (01295) 750224 established by Cherwell District Council. The route takes in a Traditional village stretch of the and fieldpaths with views up and down pub serving real the tranquil Cherwell Valley. Much of the ground covered was ales. Good beer guide listed. the scene of the Civil War Battle of in June 1644. Restaurant serving traditional pub meals at lunchtime plus evening The route is signed and described in a clockwise direction, à la carte menu. Open every lunchtime and evening. Check for although it can be walked either way. Ground conditions can be exact times and reservations wet and muddy, especially in winter, so you are advised to wear stout footwear and take waterproof clothing.

Please take particular care when walking along the road The Brasenose Arms verge into Williamscot. (01295) 750244 Traditional village pub serving real ales. Restaurant serving Cropredy Village Trail traditional pub meals at lunchtime plus evening à la carte menu. Open every Approx 1mile / 1.6km lunchtime and evening. Check for exact times and reservations A short circular walk around the village centre describing some of the more interesting buildings and features. Most of the historical information is taken from the booklet “Cropredy, A Village Trail” The Green Scene (01295) 758203 by Pamela Keegan, which describes the whole village in detail. Craft gallery and tea shop serving home made pastries and Many of the buildings described are private dwellings. Please light lunches. Open Tues - Sat respect the privacy of the occupants by viewing from a polite 10.30am - 5.30pm distance.

Bridge Stores (01295) 750354 Car Parking Village general store, newsagent, off licence and bakery. Both walks start and finish at Cropredy Sports Ground, where Open Sat & Wed 8am - 7pm, Sun 8.30am - 5pm (1pm in winter), free car parking is available every day during daylight hours. Walkers other days 8am - 6pm are requested not to park their cars elsewhere in the village. The Battle of Cropredy Points of Interest Bridge - 1644 A Cropredy Bridge There has been a bridge on this site since at least 1312. The mid-seventeenth century was a time of great constitutional, It was last rebuilt in 1937, and prior to this, in 1884 by local political and religious tensions. The struggle for control between builder Thomas Cherry. The Parliamentarian army crossed this King and Parliament reflected all of these and resulted in civil war. bridge in the battle of 1644, heading east and north eastwards On 28 June 1644 the two armies were on opposite sides of the to engage the King’s troops. at Banbury. The Parliamentarians, (led by Sir William Waller) had the stronger position on top of Crouch Hill but neither side was prepared to risk crossing the river. King Charles I

On the morning of Saturday 29 June the King conspicuously began to march his troops northwards in order to “...observe Waller’s motion and to expect a fitter opportunity and place to give him battell”. B Old Toll House The Parliamentarian army followed The canal narrows to the width of one barge outside the Toll until it reached the hilltop at Great House. This allowed a Bourton. Seeing that the Royalists had wooden beam to be become widely spread out along the route Waller sent two cavalry passed across until detachments to attack across the Cherwell, one at Cropredy tolls had been paid. Bridge and one at Slat Mill Ford. The house of which it is part was “The After initial success the Parliamentarians were pushed back Navigation Inn” across the river, suffering heavy casualties and losing important around the time the artillery. For a day the two sides watched each other across the canal was being built. valley, then very early on Monday morning the King marched southwards. Waller’s army depleted by widespread desertions and “Bridge” with low morale, was in such disarray that he did not attempt to C give chase. Sculptor Michael Fairfax and poet Jamie McKendrick have worked together on a unique series of artworks for the The significance of this battle lies in the effect it had on the Oxford Canal funded by Cherwell District Council and Southern Parliamentarian side. The unexpected failure to win at Cropredy Arts. Michael has inscribed Jamie’s poem ‘Bridge’ on four black Bridge was a cause for great concern and was one of the factors iron “mileposts”. The tops echo the shape of a hump-backed which influenced Parliament’s decision to raise a professional or bridge, and the central motifs represent steps leading up to a lock. ‘New Model’ army, which was formed by the following year. D Panoramic View ‘Bridge’ by Jamie McKendrick To the north west you can see the village of Claydon on top of the hill. Down at the bottom of the field note the sculptures in the garden of the tall barn. The big house across the canal from The Hump Backed Bridge Cropredy is Manor, which owns the estate through which you are now walking. is taking umbrage and making a bright E Williamscot hoop Records first mention a settlement here in 1166. King Charles I slept in a “very poor man’s house at Williamscot” after the Battle of Cropredy Bridge. In the early 19th Century, Williamscot had three inns, several small shops and a school, but by 1877 the population had fallen dramatically, with up to 35 buildings having been demolished. Poplars Farmhouse dates from the late 17th Century and is built from of its bricklined arch ironstone, which is the predominant building material in the . like a dancer’s sturdy instep

F Slat Mill Ford on the unbroken surface As you approach the double gated bridge, try to imagine the Parliamentarian troops coming towards you across the river as they marched up the hill to engage the Earl of Northampton’s Royalist Regiment. where the quilled stumps

G Oxford Canal of pollarded willows This was one of ’s earliest canals (1790) and was the shiver like the steel first to connect the industrial Midlands with . It continued bristles to carry commercial traffic until the 1950s, and now has a new lease of life as a recreational waterway. The entire 83 miles of towpath between Oxford and can now be walked.

on a flea’s armour or rest head down like sable brushes in a jar of turps 5 Follow the path down the hill and through the next Circular Walk Directions field. Cross the farm road and follow the track over the Varney’s d Roa Lock ee River Cherwell and through the wood. Follow the field edge tr e until the next boundary. pl 4 At the bend, turn right on to the bridleway. Go through Cl Ap aydon aydon Broadmoor one field gate and then another. The path now runs Lock diagonally across the middle of the field and up the hill. At the Broadmoor Road Bridge 6 Follow the right fork of the path diagonally top of the hill stop for breath and take in the panoramic view. across the field and then turn right. Follow the 3 field edge through the next three boundaries, D Prescote heading towards a stone barn. 3 Manor Continue along the towpath 4 Farm until you reach the next lock at The Mill House Broadmoor Bridge (Number 150). At 5 7 Go through 8 Turn left and follow the lock, turn right off the towpath the field gate the road verge into and on to Appletree Road. Turn left down Oxford Canal and follow the through the hamlet of Appletree Road, passing the tall barn hedgeline (now on Williamscot (Take care along on your right hand side. your right) to the this section). Turn right just Prescote ll we Manor er Williamscot Road. before the National Speed Ch r e v Limit sign and follow the i 6 R road straight ahead. C House 2 Turn left, through a small gate and down onto the Cropredy canal towpath. Turn right to double back underneath B 2 A 9 Walk around the traffic barrier up the the bridge. Notice the Old Toll House on your left, then after Wardington concrete drive of Poplars Farm and through the next bridge pause to read the poem “Bridge” inscribed 1 the farmyard (using the stile on your right if the on the black iron “mileposts” at the lockside. P gate is locked). Go through another gate, head Sports Ground diagonally leftwards across the top of the field Car Park and then walk downhill along the boundary and 1 From the car park turn left through the gate at the bottom. Station Road 7 Wardington and walk along the path, over Grange Cropedy Bridge to the canal bridge. Lower Lodge A361 Bourton House 8

Williamscot E d

a KEY House o R

n

o G Williamscot t g

Route n Poplars i d

r l

Farm a Steep l e W 10 w Keeping the small stone barn Pewet r 12 e 9 Other paths Turn right and h ahead to your left, head straight Farm 12 C

follow the Oxford r across the field and through the gate e

v

i Canal towpath back to R Points of Interest B in the middle of the hedge. Cropredy canal bridge F Lock Built Up Area (No.153). At the bridge 10 go up onto the road and Wooded Area 11 11 Bearing slightly to the right head to the turn right to head back Car Parking double gated concrete bridge at Slat Mill Ford P to the car park. Banbury To and cross the river. Cross a small field and rejoin the NOT TO SCALE For those who would like to venture canal towpath using the stile beside the brick bridge. further afield we recommend the OS Explorer sheet 206. Cropredy Village Trail 5 Tradesmen’s Row This line of cottages is 3 The Malt House This cottage sometimes called “Tradesmen’s Row” because 4 was built in 1814 for a shoemaker. Approx 1mile / 1.6km it was occupied for many years by masons, The Red Lion Inn Notice the extra window in the carpenters, saddlers and tailors amongst others. The first record of the frontage where the shop door used to 6 St Mary’s Church Inside 2 Riverside Cottages This You can see their surnames (Smith, Lambert and pub being called “The be. It was the village Co-op from 1873 Walk into the village from the the Church there is a leaflet to area was the site of Cropredy Gardner for example) on many of the Red Lion” dates from to 1963. Some local people still recall Sports Ground Car Park. After guide you around. The Mill. The two cottages gravestones across the road. The cottages 1786, but it had been that if a Bargee’s wife rushed into the pendulum clock (which can be (originally three) were built crossing the canal bridge turn would have originally been built from timber, licensed to sell ale for shop she would be let to the front of seen from the Nave), is one of on the filled-in mill pond to but those which survived were re-faced in stone. many years before this. the queue. This would enable her to right, walk up the lane known as many interesting features. On replace homes demolished to At the end of Red Lion Street turn left down buy supplies and rush back to the boat Round Bottom until you see The coming out of the Church make way for the canal. the path towards St Mary’s Church. by the time her husband had taken it Wharf House on your right. porch turn right towards the Looking northwards, the mill through Cropredy Lock. double gates into Church yard stood where the lock is Lane. The first building on Red Lion Inn 4 now. The remains of the Mill 7 Orchard House the right is Orchard House. House are under a hump in Tradesmen’s Row 5 3 The Malthouse Notice the unusual the bank between the canal and the river. Head into the architectural style of Orchard House 7 Lock House this house, which was Lock village along Red Lion Street. Church originally built to be Cobbler’s The first house before the Red Rooms 8 Red Lion the new vicarage Corner St Lion Inn is The Malt House. Church Lane Cropredy

when the old one 10 t e was demolished to e r St The St. Mary’s make way for the h Vicarage Flats ig Green 6 Church Vicarage Flats. H Scene The Green 2 Old 1 The Wharf House This was built in 1778 9 Bakehouse Riverside 8 The Church Rooms This brick building as the Navigation Inn to serve the navigators or s Cottages Cup & n “navvies”constructing the canal. It remained an was put up in 1887 for John Allitt (the butcher e 11 Peartree d Saucer r Wharf Bottom inn until about 1796. The wharf keepers who and baker who owned the business next door) 12 House a 1 G House l e l lived here afterwards would have been farmers as a Sunday School and reading room. The e g w a r or builders’ merchants as well as supplying the Post would arrive each day by r e Brasenose h a

C c 13 Round village with coal. The brickwork of this house is train and be placed in the Church Rooms for Arms Plantation i r V e

Bridge v evening reading by the men of the village. View i in the style known as “Flemish Bond”. Stores R Oxford Canal Continue walking to the end of the lane The and at the bridge look across the canal to Plan 9 tation Riverside Cottages. The Old Bakehouse Before electricity came to P Cropredy in the late 1930s, villagers would often bring Road Cropredy Bridge their Sunday joint here to be cooked in the large ovens. Old Coal 14 14 The bakery closed in the 1980s. At the end of Church Wharf The Old Coal Wharf Formerly known as Bott’s Wharf, this is now an arts centre. Lane turn left onto High Street and follow the road Station around, keeping to the right. Over the canal and river bridges brings 12 you back to the start of the trail. 11 Peartree House This was the Cup & Saucer The unusual street name Manor House between the 1680s 10 is taken from the stone feature in the verge. Cobbler’s Corner This used to be the Post Office and and 1780s. At the centre of each 13 telephone exchange. Until after the war there was no outside It is, in fact the remains of a medieval cross, black chimney is a cruciform pattern The Brasenose Arms Originally three cottages, by 1700, it had become telephone kiosk, so one had to wake the post-mistress in but with a little imagination it can be seen of four red bricks which denotes that an inn. Church Courts were held here and wills proved. The name reflects order to make a call during the night. A shed to the side of as a cup and saucer complete with teaspoon. this house was once owned by the Cropredy’s strong links with Brasenose College, Oxford, which has owned the building housed the village shoemaker. Head back to The Green. Facing on to it is Lamberts, a prominent local family. land in and around the village since 1524. Carry on along The Plantation Peartree House. following the signs for Williamscot. On your left is The Old Coal Wharf.