A hill side coppice bearing the name of Rosamunds Bower and the Moate House are within easy walking distance. The pathway near the bog (mineral) spring is the shorter and pleasanter route to Banbury, leading near to the calcining furnaces and ironstone quarries of the Astrop Ironstone Company.

COMPTON WYNYATES, the residence of The Marquis of Northampton, is distant about nine miles to the south-west of Banbury, and is a beautiful example of a brick castellated house of Tudor date. It stands in a prettily wooded hollow at the foot of the hills which skirt the south-east border of Warwickshire. The building surrounds a quadrangle, and was formerly encircled by a moat, which has now been filled in on the west, south, and east sides; its erection began about 1519. The woodwork of the gables and the doorway of the entrance front, with the shields bearing the Tudor roses and the emblems of Castile and Arragon, are good instances of the work of the time. On the right of the quadrangle is the rich bay window of the hall, and in the hall itself is a finely carved wood screen, coeval with the building. The tower, and particularly the highly ornamented brick chimneys, are worth detailed attention. Adjoining the tower is the chapel, the window of which looks out upon the lawn; a secret passage and Roman Catholic chapel also testify to the troubled transition times of the early households. There is but space to note two incidents in the long history of the house,—the visit of King Henry VIII., and in later years the fierce little fight when the place, garrisoned by the Puritan troops, was attacked by Sir Charles and Sir Wm. Compton with a party of Royalists from Banbury. The Comptons failed to regain their home.

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COMPTON WYNYATES, HALL WINDOW.

HORLEY.—Altitudes, 500-400; population, 247; is 4 miles north-west of Banbury, and may be reached by a pleasant footpath passing over Ruscot Hill and through Drayton fields. The village stands at the neck dividing two of the high vales of North Oxon, the Lias ironstone covering all the high lands thereabouts. St. Ethelreda’s Church, plain, square towered and full of good old Early English work, is in mid village; the two pointed arches between chancel and nave, the old glass of the north aisle and the great mural painting of Saint Christopher, the Christ bearer, with the legend:

“What are thou; and art so yying
Bar I never so heavy a thinge.”
“Yey, I be hevy, no wunther nys
For I am the Kynge of blys.”

All these, and the organ (1765), are worth the passing hour of the wayfarer. Many of the houses, for instance that of Mr. B. Hirons, are of good proportion and build. At the north-west end of the village, Clump Lane leads to some beautifully terraced fields known as Steps Meadow and Hadsham Hollow, and the footway along the high bank to the near village of Hornton is also one of the pleasant ways of the countryside. At the Yellow Well beyond the Horley House a dole of bread was wont to be made on St. Thomas’s day.

RADWAY.—Altitude, 400; population, 216; 9 miles north-west of Banbury; is pleasantly reached by the pathway below the Tower at Ratley Grange. Radway Grange by alteration about 1735 lost most of its good features as a building—it stands on the slopes of its park land at the foot of the hill. The farm pool runs close to the road side, and a pleasant prospect of the hill side is got through its foliage. The church is more noticeable for its enclosure of the Kingsmill monument, one of the burials of the Edge Hill fight, than for its architectural style. The wide openings of the village and the high wooded lanes of the Edge are diversified with many a pleasant path and resting place.