Kellys_Berks_Bucks&Oxon_1915_0824.jpg

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o~der:

B.!NBURY.

OXFORDSHIRE.

above this rises, in three diminishing stages, a
Clrc.1llar tower; the s~cond stage is surrounded by
Iowc columns. supportmg a balustrading; the upper
stage terminates in a dome with vane; the tower contain.8 bells (some of which hWlg in the (ower of the old
church). and h as a total heigh t of 113 feet: in ,897. in
commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee of Her late
Majesty Queen Victoria. a clock. three new bells. and
a chiming apparat u s were provided at a cost of £721:
the communion plate includes four chalices of silver,
one of which has a cover and is dated 1575 , two
silver /lagons given by M. Cope esq. in '723. four silver
salvers, presented by Mary Longe in 1827, and some
other vessels: the church was restored in 1876 at " cost
of £8,000, Bnd in 1880 the tower was re stored or
rebuilt, at a. cost of £1,250: there are now sittings for
2,000 persons, including 500 free seats and ISO si btings
for th e school children. The register dates from the
year 1558. The living is a vicarage. with lhe chapelry
of Neitbrop annexed, net yea rly value abou t £403. with
residence. in the gift of the Bishop of Oxford. an d h eld
since ' 905 by the Rev. Arthur J ohn J ones M.A. of
Lincoln College, Oxford, who is rural dean of Deddington, and surrogate.
SOUTH B.A.::'IBURY is an ecclesiastical pa risb formed
January 20th. 1846. out of the parishes of Banbury and
Warkworth. Northamptonshire. Christ ChurcL. erected
.in 1853 from designs by 1I1r. Benjamin Ferry. architect.
IS an elegant structure of Bletchington stone ,vith fr eestone dressings, in the Decorated style, consisting of
chancel , nave of four bays, aisles, sacristy, lady chapel,
soutb porch and a tall pinnacled tower on th e nortb
side, added in 1880 : there are small galleries at
the west end of the church running entirely across
the building: the stained east window was erected
by voluntary subscription:! as a memorial to B .R.n.
the late Prince Consort, d. 14 Dec . 1862, and there
are other memorial windows in the chancel and
aisles. erected by Mr. Albert Kimberley. Mr. Henry
Ware, Mr. J. Fortescue, Miss AlIen and Mrs. A.
Kimberl ey, besides t wo commemorating the Rev.
Charles Forbes, fir st vicar of this parish, and the
Rev. J. D. Fish, a form er curate : the church was
renovated in 1888 at a cost of nearly £300; a CaeD
stone reredos was g iYen by the vicar: there are 944
sittings. The r egister dates from the year 1853. The
Living is a vicarage, llet yearly value £2 80, with residence and 4 acres 01 glebe. in the gift of the Bishop of
01l0rd. and held since 1896 by the Rev. Frederick Martin
Burton B.A .• LL.D. of Trinity Hall. Cambridge. F.S.A.
and surrogate.
St. Paul's. NEITHROP. a chapel 01 ease to the parisb
church. is a building of stone, consisting of chancel,
nave of four bays, north aisle, vestry, organ chamber,
south porch, and a turret over the western entrance
containing ODe bell: the east and west windows are
stained, and there are four smaller stained windows in
the cbancel: the cburch affords 400 sittings.
The Catbolic church. dedicated to St. John. in S outh
Bar, was completed in 1838, from designs by Mr
Derrick; it is built entirely of freestone and consists
of embattled chance.! with Decorated windows, nave,
and an embattled western tower of four stages with
heavy crocketed pinnacles and containing an itltlminated
clock: there are three s tained windows at the east end;
the west front is adorned wit h ranopied niches: beneath the church is a crypt, in "W hicb are some relics of old
Banbury church, human remains found wit hin the precincts of Old Banbury Castle. and the tombstones. and
remains of many interred in t he Catholic ~raveyard at
Overthorpe. conveyed to St. John's Crypt in 1837: the
chnrch affords 350 sittings : aHached is a presbytery.
designed by the late Mr. A. W. Pugin. and in the
g&rden, on the south side of the church, is a cross
with fiori ated head rising from a p edestal on three steps.
The churchyard is now disused.
The Wesleyan chapel. Marlborough road. erected in
1864-5, at a cost of £7.000. and opened May 9th. 1865.
by the Rev. Dr. Waddy. is of Brackley stone. with
Balh slone dressings in the Early Decorated style. from
designs by Mr. George Wood house, archil~ct. of Boltonle-Moors. and ha. a light octagonal tower and spire.
and sittings for about 1,200 persons, of which 430 are
free. Adjoining are Sunday schools, erected in 1882.
Tb. Congregational cbapel in South Bar str eet.
erected in 1857. and restored and decorated in t88t, at
a cost oC £400, is in a modern Classic style, and will
seat about 550 persons. Behind the chapel is a lecture
Toom and school room; the latter, for Sunday school
pnrposes, is readily divided by movable partitions into
17 separate compartments , for the classification of about
200 children. Tbe chapel was first l ound ed in '787.

[KELLY'S.

The Christ Ohurch Unitarian chapel, in the Horselair
oppo~ite St. Mary's chul'~, i~ a structure in the Earl:
E nglis h style. and was built In 1850. on the site 01 on~
founded in 17 16: there are 300 sittings.
The Baptist chapel, in Bridge street, erected in 1840
ond restored in 1903, is a plain building adorned in
fr?nt with six colum ns of the Grecian Ionic order: it
\n U seat abont 400 persons and has school Tooms in the
rear erected in 1858.
'rhe Primitive Melbodist chapel in Church lane. formerly a Wesleyan chapel. seats about 600.
Tbe Calvinistic chapel. in Dasbwood road. will se.t
J 80 persons;
the m eeting house of the Society of
J"riends, in the HorsefaiI, seats about 300 persons: the
U Brethren" hold their services in the Temperance Ball.
and the
Disciples of Christ" have also a place otf
worship.
The Cemetery, containing about 6~ acres, is on thp.
South am road north of t.he town; there are two chaoeh '
erected in 1860, for the Church of England and ~o~~
conform ists; it is under the control of the Town Ooun.
cil acting a, tbe Bu rial Au thority.
The Town Hall. erected in 1854. at a cost 01 £5.737.
stands m th e centre of the market place and i. a
rectangular building of stone in tbe Gothic style of lhe
15lh century. with an octagonal battIemented lower on
i~s eas tern front, tlIe ~as~ of which cont~ins the prinClpal entI'8llce; from WI thIn the parapet r16e3 a kind of
spire, in which is a clock: on the first floor is the Common Hall. 60 by 34 feet. approacbed by a stone stairca ••
in the tower; and seating. for tbe purposes of public
assemblies, 600 persons; in the hall are portraits of
Henry William Tancred esq. for 25 years M.P. for lb.
borough 1833-57; the late Ven. Lord Saye and Sele. d.
26 May, 1887, and Mr. Dra.per, a former ma yor; the
building also contains a retiring room for the magistrates and recorder, and a council chamber; on the
ground fioo r. beside the Borough Police station, are 3
cells for prisoners. The general quarter sessions and
borough magistrates' meetings are held at the Town
Hall, the latter in petty sessions every Monda y at 10
a.m. The County Court is also held here monthly.
The municipal insignia include a mace, mayor's chain
8!ld ba~ge an~ a common seal. The earliest mace, of
SlIver gilt, was purchased or made for the Corporation,
on the granting of the original charter in '554. and in
165 I this mace was repaired and a new mace bought at
a total cost of between £30 and £40; this new mace
was of course a -Commonwealth mace, and h ad all the
peculiarities of design and ornament which distinguisb
the maces of that period; but at the Restoration in
1660, it was convert.ed into a royal mace. In Or about
1715-16, a third mace was made, but this, as well as
the Restoration mace, was sold in 1832 to the Nort,h
family. barons North. of Wroxton Abbey. and the
Corporation was without any mace until 1875, in which
year the late Col. J. S. North M.P. and Lady Norlh
entertained the Corporation at Wroxton and presented
them with the earlier or " Restoration " mace. This is
3 feet in lengtb. tbe shaft being chased tbrough out. and
di vided by gadrooned bands into three sections; on
the foot knop are three cartouches, bearing respecth'ely
Ihe Cross of St. George. tbe harp. and tbe arms of the
borough; scrolled brackets support the head. the surface of which is divided by caryatides and foliaged
arches into four compartments, containing the royal
badges between tbe letters C.R.; on the fiat top are tbe
royal arms of the Stuarts; a circlet surrounds it and
above this an open arched crown, surmounted by an orb
and cross; the shaft and head date from ,65'. but the
other portions and all the regal emblems are the r esult
of alterations made in 1660. The other mace. slill at
Wroxton, is that m ade in 1715-16; it is of silver gilt, 3
feet 11 inches in length and of th e u sual design. with
crowned head, bearing the royal arms of G<!orge 1. and
on the foot knop. lbose of tbe borough, and the cypher
G.R. Tbe mayor's gold chain and badge were presented
in July. 1875. by John Phillips Barford esq. mayor and
\Villiam Rush er esq . alderman. The common seal,
which probably dates from 1584, is circular in shape,
and of silver; it bears the borough arms-az, th~ s~
in splendour, or-and two scrolls, on one of whIch. 15
the motto " Dominvs Nobis Sol et Scvtvm." An earlier
seal was existing in 1574, but is, now missing. it bore
a branching vine, below which were the letters RA.
The Corporation also possesses a two-bandIed silver
loving cup given by B. Samuel son esq. 9 Nov. 18 7
and two silver puncb bowls. dating from '734-5.
."
The old Corn Exchange, in Cornhill, now the Vl.ne
Hotel, erected in 1857, has a good stone frontage WIth
eight. coupled pillars of the Corin thian order supporting a pedimeJlt, surmounted by a statue; on eIther
t(