ABOUT BANBURY......

Banbury is situated in the south central region of the British Isles; it lies 38 miles south-east of Birmingham, 64 miles north-west of London and 21 miles north of the county town of Oxford.

Banbury is a town of approximately  (60,000) persons and is the administrative centre of the Cherwell District Council area in north Oxfordshire. The main industries are car components, electrical goods, plastics, and coffee processing, with the world's largest facility at Kraft Foods. The cattle market, closed in 1966, was at one time the largest in Western Europe. 

The name Banbury derives from ''Banna'', a Saxon chieftain in the sixth century who had his stockade in the area, and ''burgh'', meaning settlement. The town was a Puritan stronghold in the Civil War and a base for the operations of Oliver Cromwell. The first major Civil War battle in 1642 took place at Edge Hill, a few miles north-west of Banbury. Two miles south-west of Banbury is Broughton Castle, an Elizabethan manor house built around the core of a medieval castle. It has a secret room, used by the Parliamentarians in the Civil War. 

Wroxton Abbey, three miles west of Banbury, was the home of Lord North, prime minister at the time of the American War of Independence between 1775 and 1781, and, n 17th century Upton House, now owned by the National Trust  and the home from 1927 of the 2nd Lord Bearsted, a great collector and the son of Marcus Samuel the founder of Shell, lies seven miles north-west of Banbury. Farnborough Hall is ten miles north-west.  

Banbury Cross is immortalised in the children's nursery rhyme ''Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross''. The medieval cross was destroyed by the Puritans in 1600 and the present one was built in 1859.

The Banbury Cake, made from a recipe handed down through the generations, is a speciality.

The area surrounding Banbury is informally known as ''Banburyshire''; it comprises part of north Oxfordshire and extends into parts of Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. ''Banburyshire'' delineates the core area of the company's business

Banbury Cross