BANBURY CASTLE

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Site of a castle, demolished in 1648 and now built over. Excavation in 1973-74 uncovered three phases. Firstly a castle, built circa 1125-36, of rectangular plan; remodelled to a concentric plan in the late 13th century and early 14th century. After the siege of 1644 bastions were added. Finds included Medieval pottery, silver pennies and a cannon. Some Iron Age and Roman pottery was found along with worked flints.

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(SP 45704079) Site of (NAT) Castle (NR) (SP 45614086) Moat (NR) (Site of) (NAT) (1)

Excavations of three sites within the castle area were carried out in 1972. At Castle Street car park pits, yielding C11th or C12th pre-castle pottery and a large C12th building were found covered by a layer of gravel, dumped c.1300, succeeded by phases of stone and timber buildings, and four, probably C17th, burials. The mound, generally regarded as the bailey of the original castle, was found to be of later date. At 27 Cornhill two gullies were dated by pottery found inside, to the second half of the C11th. One also contained six sherds of Stamford-type ware. Above was a rectangular stone-lined pit, 2.8 x 4.1 x 1.5m, with preserved wood and pottery from glazed vessels, sealed by clay. An unidentifiable silver penny was found and two silver half pennies which must have been deposited before 1280. In Factory Street the probable medieval ramparts of the castle were revealed below the remains of the Civil War earthworks. (2,3)

Excavations in 1973-4 of part of Banbury Castle north of the market place, prior to redevelopment of the site as a shopping centre revealed three main periods of the castle's development. Beneath the earliest castle layers a buried soil seems to have survived across almost the entire site. It provided an Iron Age pottery sherd, bone, Roman pottery and worked flints, all in too small a quantity to suggest any intensive pre-castle occupation. Period 1: The first castle, begun in 1125 or 1136 by Alexander de Blois, Bishop of Lincoln (1123-48), was of rectangular plan, defended by a wide curtain wall and a slight ditch. The interior, mostly metalled, was flat and the principal buildings seem to have stood in the centre of the enclosure. In the south-west corner, however, a well-preserved stone building was excavated. Period 2: The castle was completely remodelled in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, to a concentric plan, as shown on the 1685 estate map. There were two large defensive ditches between which lay a bank and the new curtain wall with cylindrical corner and interval towers.
Period 3: Extensive alteration took place after a siege in 1644; the south curtain wall was rebuilt closer to the outer ditch, the gate was refronted and bastions constructed. The castle retained this form until demolished in 1648. The most important single find was a civil war period cannon, 3m long. (4)

Listed as a Vanished castle by Cathcart King. (5)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 25" 1885

( 2) Oxford City and County Museum : archaeological and historical newsletter

9 - 1972 Page(s)2

( 3) Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society Oxoniensia

(P J Fasham) 38 - 1973 Page(s)312-38

( 4) Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society Oxoniensia

(K A Rodwell) 41 - 1976 Page(s)90-147

( 4a) General reference

Historic Towns Atlas Vol I 1969 plans (M D Lobel)

( 5) David J Cathcart King 1983 Castellarium anglicanum : an index and bibliography of the castles in England, Wales and the Islands. Volume II : Norfolk-Yorkshire and the islands

2 Page(s)387

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