Charlbury Visitor Guide

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BURFORD To Charlbury Canoe Club KEY TO MAP TO KEY

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HOTELS/ RESTAURANTS/ PUBS The Bell Hotel, Church Street 01608 810278 The Bull Inn, Sheep Street 01608 810689 PUBS The Rose & Crown, Market Street (No food) 01608 810103 Introduction The Three Horseshoes, Sheep Street 01608 810780 (Thai Cuisine) Charlbury is situated 15 miles north west of Oxford SELF-CATERING, B&B, CAMPING Charlbury in the beautiful Evenlode Valley, surrounded by glorious Banbury Hill Farm, Enstone Road 01608 810314 OXFORDSHIRE Cotswold View Caravan & Camping, 01608 810314 Cotswold countryside and the historic towns of Woodstock, Enstone Road Burford and Chipping Norton. Charlbury is a small market town, typical of the Cotswolds, with its colourful cottage TRAVEL SERVICES gardens and houses built of local materials. National Rail Enquiries 08457 484950 Charlbury Railbus (including nearby villages) 01993 869100 To the south west of Charlbury lies the remainder of the Bus Services, Travel Line 0870 608 2608 ancient Wychwood Forest, part of which now makes up Evenlode Valley Travel, Taxi Hire 01608 810035 the estate of Cornbury Park. Monarchs once exercised their Tour guide and sightseeing enquiries 01608 819091 exclusive hunting rights in the forest. Today, deer and other CHARLBURY MUSEUM wildlife can still be spotted from public footpaths that border Market Street (next door to Library) 01608 810060 the Park. Open Easter until end September, 10.00-12.00 Saturday, 14.30-16.30 Sunday and Bank Holidays, or by arrangement The coming of the railway in 1853 put new life into the CORNER HOUSE (Market Street) market town. Charlbury still has its picturesque station, Library (with Internet access) 01608 811104 the design of which is linked to Isambard Kingdom Brunel. (Closed Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday) Regular trains link the town to London, Reading, Oxford, Public room enquiries 01608 810879 and west to Hereford and Worcester. HEALTHCARE Today, Charlbury lends itself to gentle strolls past buildings The Charlbury Practice, Spendlove Centre 01608 811999 and features of historic interest. Footpaths in the surrounding Doctors' Surgery, Spendlove Centre 01608 810210 area offer walks through stunning scenery, all within the Dental Surgery, Spendlove Centre 01608 811095 Vincent Pharmacy, Market Street 01608 810315 Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The quiet A guide for visitors country lanes and roads in the Wychwood area are also LOCAL SHOPS & SERVICES FOR VISITORS popular with cyclists and horse riders. Business Focus, offi ce services, Sheep Street 01608 811559 Co-op Stores, Spendlove Centre 01608 810815 Award-winning pubs and inns at the heart of the town Evenlode Books, Market Street 01608 819117 encourage visitors to stay and sample local hospitality. Local Fiveways Indian Takeaway, Sturt Road 01608 811011 books and information can be found at the nearby bookshop, Fiveways Stores, Sturt Road 01608 810660 library, post offi ce and other shops, while Charlbury Museum Good Food Shop, Sheep Street 01608 811157 brings to life the story of its people and their town over the Karizma, Beauty Salon, Sheep Street 01608 819222 centuries. Today, the community organise many events open News & Things, Sheep Street 01608 810228 to all. These include a two-day music festival by the Evenlode Post Offi ce, Market Street 01608 810243 9.00-17.30 Monday to Friday, 9.00-12.30 Saturday River, a popular Beer Festival and an Annual Street Fair.

© 2006 The Charlbury Society and Charlbury Chamber of Trade & Commerce, [email protected] To ﬁ nd out more please visit www.charlbury.info Supported by Charlbury Town Council and West Oxfordshire District Council. Cover illustration and map by Sue Woolley. Building illustrations by Bev Bradley. BURFORD To Charlbury Canoe Club KEY TO MAP TO KEY

5 4 3 2 1 Corner House Corner Fountain Drinking Museum The Cottage Armada TalbotOld The and Inn House Granchester CRICKET W

FIELD

CHARLBURY B NORTON CHIPPING ITNEY

12 4 3 O

CORNBURYPARK F WOODSTOCK

W D

S a

r I

V R

y E

E L

W a

n N

L Y

O D

OXFORD E

BANBURY See inside leaflet for featured buildings and monuments and buildings featured for leaflet inside See

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NORTON CHIPPING To

H l

I n

e L L

C o ts

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h d u r c h

L a n e

Thames V CEMETERY

Shilson’sPlace Gdns ie

D w

B Y T

re H E A

Forest

w 2 Court

e R M 10

r E

y S S

Clarendon Close

L S

H T

a R Court Church

n IL E e E L T

9 8 7 6

A 1

R K

E E E v T C en

H T lo

he M WIGWELL

d RESERVE

U A J St. Mary the VirginChurch the Mary St. Gothic House Gothic Hotel Bell The House Meeting Friends’ House Albright A NATURE

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S T

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R H

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Spendlove

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Bus

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L E L T Centre

SCHOOL CLUB SCHOOL AFTER and PLAYGROUP c T e R A C

E 3 8 War E Hall R T 5 E

courts

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1 Grantchester House 5 Corner House 9 Gothic House Church Street Thames Street Market Street This was the home of Edward Lyster, apothecary, who came to Charlbury to The first authenticated owner was the Rev. John Given to the town in 1946 by Mr and Mrs help to conquer smallpox in 1766. He was most successful, and died in 1804. Arrowsmith, who was a Curate of St. Mary the C H Morris of Lee Place, it is the civic hub Dr George Horniblow took over his house and practice until he retired in 1849. Virgin Church, Master of Charlbury Grammar of Charlbury. The street front was added in That year, Dr William Pollard married Mary Albright and it became another School and Vicar of Wilcote until his death in 1723 by William Spendlove, a Quaker baker. Quaker property. A tenement on the east side was demolished to make way 1761. In the 1880s and 1890s it was a boarding He built a gazebo-like structure on the for an extension in the 1880s, and the locals called it Gothic House. Bessie school for young ladies, known as Merton House, roof (now removed), and the townspeople Marchant, a prolific writer of girls’ school stories, bought it in 1910. and it was probably then that the top storey was christened the building Observatory House. converted from attics with dormers to dormitories, It remained in Quaker hands for the rest of and the round windows inserted. Bought in the the 18th and most of the 19th centuries. The 1930s by the Bursar of New College, Oxford, its Annual Street Fair is held to raise funds for the name was changed to Grantchester House. maintenance of the Corner House and the War Memorial Hall, built in its 10 St. Mary the garden in 1956. The building also houses the public library. Virgin Church The pillars and arches on the north 2 The Old Talbot side of the nave are Norman. Inn and 6 Albright House The rest is later and is well described Church Street in the leaflet available in the church. Armada Cottage During the 1990's the interior of Thames Street Another Quaker property, it was the church was modernised and A virtually unaltered Elizabethan bought by Edward Spendlove in now provides a much used space building, saved from the philistine 1710 because he was a maltster for worship. hands of a brewery by the outbreak and it had a malthouse. The of the Great War, its licence was Albrights bought it in 1813, and it given up in 1927. Both cottages are is still owned by their descendants. now privately owned. The wisteria along the frontage is much appreciated by passers-by. 11 Lee Place Bought as a dower house for Ditchley Park in 1716 for the widowed Countess 3 The Museum 7. of Litchfield, King Charles II’s favourite daughter. The south-west front was Market Street 7 Friends’ added circa 1722, when the new Ditchley Park was being built. The road from Park Street to Fiveways was re-routed about this time to keep traffic away Opened in 1952, it contains many relics of Meeting House from the windows. The last male Lee died in 1776. Charlbury’s past including a fine collection of farm implements and old photographs. The garden Market Street in front is the site of The Star, a former pub, First built in 1681, rebuilt in 1779 demolished in 1912. and enlarged in 1987, it is an unassuming building which continues 12 Charlbury Station to be the focus of worship for Quaker The Oxford, Worcester and families in the Charlbury area. Wolverhampton Railway opened the line through Charlbury in 1853. 8 The Bell Hotel The company employed Church Street Isambard Kingdom Brunel 4 Drinking Fountain as its Engineer and one of his The Playing Close An ancient hostelry, whose standard 'chalet-type' stations foundations probably go back was used at Charlbury. The station, The winning design of a national competition, to the town's first market in now a Grade II Listed Building, retains it was opened in 1900 to commemorate 1256. The date 1700 over much of its original general appearance. Queen Victoria’s visit to Cornbury in 1886, the entrance tells us when her Golden Jubilee in 1887, her Diamond it was altered and repaired. Jubilee in 1897, and Arthur Albright’s gift to First penned in the street, the town of a pure water supply the livestock were later moved in 1896. to the yard behind, but in 1955 by agreement with the Tayler & Fletcher Note: Please respect the privacy of the occupants Brewery, the auctioneers moved the market to Kingham. of the private buildings featured.