This section of the Banburyshire Rambles Journal brings together some of my ‘best’ photos and my past walks to document one of a little known gems in this part of the world; the large number of standing stones, earthworks, Medieval churches, and other ancient sites and trackways in north and north-west Oxfordshire.
For a more detailed explanation of the guide and its purpose, goto the About the Guide page.
Banburyshire’s Ancient Sites, Beltane 2022:
Minster Lovell Hall has a surreal quality; especially if the weather adds to the atmosphere. It’s a classic ‘ruin’, but at the same time you can see that centuries of less reverent visitors have scrawled graffiti over many parts of it (a practise common before modern times). And while today it seems a backwater, the history of the site ties it to some major events in history.
Banburyshire’s Ancient Sites, Beltane 2022:
Many people don’t know it’s there: A Medieval stone bridge; buried beneath a Victorian brick bridge; that most travel over every day without a thought. It is one of the oldest standing structures in the town, and directly related to the story of the town’s historic development.
Banburyshire’s Ancient Sites, Eostre 2022:
Though part of Ogilby’s first road atlas of England, today its an almost invisible-at-points route that rambles through the hills to the west of Banbury – not becoming an established main road again until it descends in to Warwickshire. From Banbury until Sibford Heath, it’s a route to escape the fast-moving world – not becoming an established main road again until it descends in to Warwickshire.
Banburyshire’s Ancient Trackways, Eostre 2022:
Major roads seem so permanent, so immovable – and yet this route shows how history has a tendency to shift roads over time, rather like rivers in a valley meander on their course. This route was Ogilby’s main route from London to Banbury, Stratford and Bridgenorth, yet today this ancient route has been bypassed almost completely by the modern world.
Banburyshire’s Ancient Sites, Imbolic 2022:
Most people speed past it along the A422 Banbury to Stratford road. Even if they notice the monument, they may not realise what it is. When you get up close to ‘The Wroxton Fingerpost’, though, if you really think about it, it’s telling you a story which – in the modern context – seems to make no sense.
Banburyshire’s Ancient Sites, November 2021:
The remains of a large, ancient enclosure sit above a large groups of springs in a local hidden valley. Though not well preserved, it’s a lovely location to pause and take-in the surrounding landscape.
Banburyshire’s Ancient Sites, Beltane 2021:
In one sense this is a collection of memories. Of walks which produced some of my favourite photos. As I look through the images in my collection though, I realised it described something more. A skeleton; a super-structure of places on which the essence of the local landscape sits. Its collection of ancient sites.