t, "The
Lord is in His holy temple," &c. The painted windows are good examples of
modern work; one in the north-west gallery is in memory of the explorer,
Admiral Sir G. Back, uncle of the late vicar, and represents arctic scenes
and figures. The work was carried out at the cost of and during the office
of the late vicar, the Rev. H. Back, aided by Miss Wyatt and others. The
decorators were Messrs. Heaton, Butler and Baines. There is also a richly
inlaid marble font, and pulpit. At the time of the Victorian Jubilee the
peal of eight bells was overhauled, and new chimes with shifts for
three weeks added to the clock tower. Beesley gives four of the bells as
having been made by the Bagleys' of Chacombe, where they had a well known
17th century bell foundry. The eighth bell bears the inscription:

"I ring to Sermon with a lusty boome
That all may come and none may stay at home."

[Illustration: INTERIOR ST. MARY'S CHURCH. BANBURY.]

THE VICARAGE HOUSE, dated 1649, stands against the south-west corner of
the churchyard, and is a handsome specimen of the domestic architecture of
the period. The gabled front, window mullions and porch remain of the old
work, and also the hall and front rooms. The room over the porch, used as
a private chapel, seems to be of its old service. Very carefully has the
interior ornamentation been carried out, of which the cornice of music
staves of the front room is an instance.

OLD HOUSES.--The gabled houses on the north side of the High Street, and
on the south and west sides of the Market Place, are good examples of
domestic architecture of late Tudor or early Stuart times. An old
sun-dial, bearing the motto "Aspice et abi," is attached to the front of
the High Street houses. The barge boards and pargeting of the front and
the good casemated windows of the west side remain, but the roof has been
stripped of its Stonesfield slate, and the finials are badly restored.
Also worth notice is the front of No. 11 Market Place, and the old jail,
No. 3 (1646), though the lower stage has been cut away. Orchard House,
Neithrop, the front of which it is said was protected by woolsacks during
the siege of Banbury Castle, stands on a mound away from the road side. It
bears the appearance of a manor house, as it probably was, and it has a
massive oak stair-way. The Woodlands, Horse Fair, has a handsome garden
front; it was formerly an inn. The Woodlands, as well as the school house
near by, now Banb