An Architectural Account Of Swalcliffe Church, Oxfordshire

Swalcliffe is a large village and important parish in the northern part of Oxfordshire, adjoining the county of Warwick, about six miles from Banbury, on the old turnpike road to Shipston-on-Stour.The parish is very extensive and is situate in three different hundreds, namely, Banbury, Bloxham and Dorchester, and contains in addition to the main village, the Chapelries of East Shutford and Epwell, each with a very interesting church, and the townships of West Shutford, Sibford Ferris and Sibford Gower.There are many objects of antiquarian interest in the parish, for instance, a strongly entrenched camp on Madmarston Hill, and what is reputed to have been an important British village at the foot of the hill, on a site known in former times as the city of the Lees, where coins and other remains of an early age are being constantly ploughed up.There are numerous ancient houses, one close to the church, which will shortly be referred to, and another at East Shutford which dates back to about the year 1300.In later times the inhabitants must have witnessed and participated in many of the stirring events during the period of the great Civil War, the village being nearly midway between Banbury and Edgehill, and close to Broughton Castle and Compton Winyates, which were so closely identified with the history of those exciting times, and as evidence of this were preserved in the church, until the recent• restoration, two stone cannon balls, which had been dug up in the parish, and had been utilised as weights for the tower clock.On the west side, close to the church, is an ancient

Archaeology · Art · History · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity