# Banbury Market Town Guide - Banbury Cross and Inns

> Visit Banbury, an Oxfordshire market town known for Banbury Cross and its nursery rhyme, historic inns such as the Reindeer, and Tooley's Boatyard.

URL: https://cotswolds.info/places/visit-banbury.htm  
Section: Villages & Towns  
Location: Banbury, Oxfordshire (52.062, -1.34)

**Places of Interest**

**Places to Stay**

**Places to Eat**

**Places to Visit**

The Cotswolds town of Banbury has been a busy market town for centuries and is now also an important industrial centre and grown considerably in size over the last half of the 20th century. Despite much redevelopment it still has a few old alleys and quiet corners to enjoy. Two of Banbury's famous inns remain. The Reindeer in Parsons Street and the large 17th century Whateley Hall Hotel in the Horsefair which used to be called the Three Tuns. Many famous people have stayed here including Johnathan Swift, who is reputed to have taken the name Gulliver from a tombstone in the nearby churchyard.
The famous Banbury Cross (picture below) is situated at a cross-roads on the broad Horsefair, is a mid-19th century replacement, erected to commemorate a royal wedding in 1858. The original medieval cross was destroyed by the Puritans in the early 17th century. The well-known nursery rhyme refers to the cross - ' _Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross to see a finer lady on a white horse_'. It is thought this rhyme referred to a visit by Queen Elizabeth I.

![The Banbury Cross at Banbury Town](https://cotswolds.info/images/banbury/BANBURYCROSS2.JPG)

There is a fine sports centre, Spiceball Park, and by the old canal wharf nearby is Tooley's Boatyard, with its working forge, operational dry-dock and collection of antique equipment for repairing wooden narrow boats. This wharf is busy with colourful narrowboats throughout the summer months.

![The Wharf on the canal at Banbury](https://cotswolds.info/images/banbury/canalboats.jpg)

The High Street of Banbury is bustling with a wide variety of shopping and cafes. The pedestrianisation of parts of the town makes it a pleasant place to linger. Europe's largest cattle market is situated on the outskirts of the town.
Banbury is also famous for its special Banbury Cakes which are elliptical in shape and made of light pastry lined with currants and have a lemon fragrance. They have been produced for at least 300 years.

![High Street in Banbury](https://cotswolds.info/images/banbury/highstbanbury.jpg)

The original medieval Norman church (the largest in the County), was blown up with gunpowder on the grounds that it was unsafe in 1790. The church was replaced by an elegant building in 1820 designed by S.P Cockerell, the architect of Sezincote, with Indian features including a dome. It was built of local ironstone which has proved vulnerable to weathering.

###
Places of Interest around and about

**Banbury Museum, Horsefair** - A museum devoted to the history of the town with exhibitions of work by local artists. Open April to September - tel 01295 259855.

**The Village of Aynho** - Very attractive village with many of the south facing wall of the cottages having ancient apricot trees clinging to them. In bygone days the Lord of the Manor used to claim the fruit as part of the rent.

**Aynhoe House and Park**, facing the main road at centre of the village - The grand Elizabethan mansion over the centuries has been transformed into the imposing Georgian House we see to day. Part of the house is open to the public and the park is open May to September, Wednesdays and Thursdays, tel 01869 810636.

**Broughton Castle and Church**, 3 miles south west of Banbury - Of great interest, owned by the Fiennes family since 1451. The castle was modified in the 16th century with most of the battlements being removed and has remained unchanged since that time to the present day. The castle is surrounded by a wide moat and is one of the most romantically situated castles in the country.

**Upton House**, 7 miles north west of Banbury - A fine William and Mary mansion built of local Hornton stone and stands at the end of a long grass-bordered driveway, off the A422, Stratford-upon-Avon to Banbury road. National Trust property.

**BACK TO TOP**

**If you are viewing this page without the left-hand navigation panel - Click Here**

## Cotswold Towns Villages and Places