orth to Shotteswell and on the south to Banbury. When King Charles
took the Castle after the battle of Edge Hill it would seem that it was
not without a fight. An old rhyme runs:

Hornton in the hollow,
Long Horley on the hill,
Frowsty little Drayton,
Bloody Hanwell hill.

HANWELL CASTLE during its tenure as a farm house lost much of its old work
in successive alterations. Two massive octagonal turrets and the facing of
the west front remain of the old building. The right-handed stairway, a
flight of eighty steps in the north turret, is of very thorough Hornton
stone work, but the turrets and front are of the good flat red brick in
use in Tudor time, with stone quoins. It would appear that the right hand
stairway lent itself better to defensive uses; the upper rooms are entered
from the turret stair. In the angle of the south turret a small room shows
some old oak panelling, and in an adjoining room a hearth and chimney
piece of local stone are in the south-east angle. The once "gallant
house of Hanwell," and, according to Dr. Plot, the home of Sir Anthony
Cope, the most eminent artist and naturalist, may be seen figured as in
its original state by Skelton in his "Antiquities of Oxfordshire," who
says the mansion was quadrangular with two towers at each angle. The
stonework of the doorways of the room adjoining the south entrance and
most of the masonry of the west side has been preserved. The Copes came
into early possession of the Hanwell estate, and John Cope, cofferer to
King Henry VIII., built the house which was so well spoken of by Leland.
In Tudor and Stuart times they were busy politicians, and James I. and his
Queen are said to have visited the Castle. The Copes were with the people
in the time of the Great Rebellion, and after Edge Hill the Castle was
taken by the Royalists. Subsequently Sir Anthony Cope found residence for
the eminent Puritan pastors Harris and Dod, who, with Whateley of Banbury,
ministered to enlarge the religious zeal of the neighbourhood. The pool
and plantation lie to the east of the grounds, and the plantation below is
worth mention from the number of rare plants found therein, amongst them
the Bistort, Lungwort, Green Hellebore, and Saracen's Woundwort.

[Illustration: HANWELL CASTLE.]

BLOXHAM.--Altitudes: high town 400, low town 310; population, 1340; 3
miles south-west of Banbury. The village stands on the red rock of the
middle Lias which bears a capping of clay on