Grimsbury
Encyclopedia
Grimsbury is a largely residential area forming the eastern part of Banbury
, Oxfordshire
, England
. It is east of the River Cherwell
, the Oxford Canal
and the Cherwell Valley Line
railway.
name for a defended enclosure (burh) of a person called Grim. It is possible that the name was derived from a pseudonym for the pagan god Woden (Odin
).
Grimsbury currently includes the town's Royal Mail
sorting office
s which were built over the former Banbury Merton Street railway station
, Banbury railway station
, Banbury United F.C.
's ground and the Victoria Place apartment development.
Local living conditions had improved greatly during the Victorian era
with the removal of several poorly built cottages that were deemed to be only "hovel
s" and an end to the endemic "dwarfism
" and rickets
that had plagued the local children in the early 19th century. A slightly later development still further east in Grimsbury was of larger houses. A lot of cottages what was called 'Waterloo' (today's Waterloo Road), which apparently lay just east of Banbury Bridge to the north of the road, had transformed from the early 19th century so that by 1841 Waterloo was considered one of the better off parts of Grimsbury. Due to Banbury’s then boom time Grimsbury's principle expansion occurred between 1852 and 1881, when some 500 houses were built, around Middleton road, Causeway, Merton Street, Duke Street, and North Street.
When meadows and a by the recently discussed race-course at Grimsbury were sold to the Great Western Railway
circa 1850, the owner also sold the other part of his land, north of the Middleton road to the Banbury Freehold Land Society, which was financially backed by Cobb's Bank, to build middle-class type houses on, but development was slow at the time and some plots were never built upon. The land in question and the location of today's Spice Ball Park are marked as "Liable to flooding" on the 1882, 1900, 1910 and 1922 Ordnance Survey
maps.
Duke Street, was located at the western edge of Wilkins’ (now demolished) brick pit, was developed around 1870. There was a substantial 'brick, tile and drain works' with a short tramway in it to the east of Grimsbury in the versinaty of Howard Street according to the 1882, 1883 1900, 1910, 1922 1923 and 1947 Ordnance Survey
maps. It had closed by 1923 and the last workshops had shut in 1955. It was mostly built on by 1965 according to the 1955 and 1965 O.S. maps.
The Banbury Town Council built the houses in King's Road and on the Easington estate at the time and other working-class type houses were built at the south end of Britannia Road and the area to the east between 1881 and 1930, and also in both Old Grimsbury Road and Gibbs Road in Grimsbury, and more up-market houses were built in both the Marlborough Road area and in Bath Road, Kings Road, Park Road, and Queen Street in Neithrop. The mostly late 19th-century suburb of Grimsbury witnessed rapid growth between 1881 and 1930. About 300 more houses were built after 1945, in the areas of Grimsbury Square, Fergusson Road, Howard Street, School View, and Edward Street. To the north of Grimsbury Square is the 1945-55 area of "New Grimsbury" and south of it is the 1930 and earlier old town of "Old Grimsbury".
A retail and residential development was built on the former site of the Bridge Motors Vauxhall
dealership and garage and opened in 2010.
The region has in recent decades been home to many Asian
families and in recent years has been settled by many Eastern Europe
immigrants.
Grimsbury is on a floodplain
and suffered severe floods in 1998 and 2007.
market site, along with the new Axis housing estate just to the east, which has added over 300 new homes and a primary school to replace Dashwood School.
's largest cattle market, on Merton Street in Grimsbury. The market was a key feature of Victorian
life both in the town and countyside. In the late 1920s the economy of Banbury was revolutionised by the arrival of new industries and in particular by the relocation of the out of town livestock market to Grimsbury it used to be held in Neithrop and/or Bridge Street, Banbury. The new site selected due to its proximity to the railway station. It was formally closed in June 1998, after being abandoned several years earlyer and was replaced with a new housing development and Dashwood Primary School.
had built another water works on the present site in the 1890s as the need for formal sewerage treatment as well as water purification
grew as the town expanded ever outward as illustrated in the 1882, 1900, 1910 and 1922 Ordnance Survey
maps. It would be expanded after World War II
and modernised thereafter. Banbury Rural District
built a reservoir near today's Hennef
Way road circa the late 1960s.
The 1960s industrial estates are home to both many local and national firms such as Prodrive
, a Cherwell District Council depot and the town's sewerage works. It was later expanded in the mid to late 1990s and in the district council announced plans to expand it slightly eastward, but nothing has ever come of it since.
Chapel in West Street was a neoclassical
brick and stone building completed in 1871. The present Methodist
church in West Street is modern.
The Church of England parish church
of Saint Leonard
was designed by the local architect Walter Mills
and built in 1890 It is a Gothic Revival
building with north and south aisles joined to the nave
by four-bay
arcades
.
St. Leonard's was a chapel of ease
to Christ Church in Broad Street until 1921, when Grimsbury was constituted as a separate parish with Saint Leonard’s as its church. In 1931 a fire destroyed much of the south side of St Leonard's and thereafter the church was redecorated and a new vestry built.
In 1978 a new Church of England
Parish of Banbury, comprising four districts, was inaugurated. In 1998 the Banbury Team Ministry was dissolved and St. Leonard's reinstated as a separate parish.
In 2001 a new dais
was built in the nave of St. Leonard's and the High Altar was placed in the centre. The font
was also moved from the south aisle and placed in the nave at the west end of the church.
In 2003 the church was redecorated with the central pillars being painted to reflect the decoration of the ceiling which is believed to have been designed in the style of a canal narrowboat
.
Dashwood Community School moved from Dashwood Road on the other side of the river to brand-new buildings in Merton Street in 2008. The school is part of a Federation with the town's main secondary school, Banbury School. It has 200 pupils. It is unusual for an Oxfordshire primary school in having a school uniform which was introduced in 2009. The headteacher is Vicki McLean.
St. Leonard's Church of England Primary School was originally Christchurch School. Its original buildings were designed by the Oxford Diocesan
architect G.E. Street
and built in 1860-61.
The Howard Road play area is in Grimsbury.
The Verney Road play area, Chaldons Road play aria and urban park and Alma Road village green are all in the Market Quarter estate .
There is also 1 other park and 1 minor play ground on the seat.
shop and the bridge into Banbury town centre. The Pepper Pot is on the junction of Middleton Road and Daventry road.
Banbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is east of the River Cherwell
River Cherwell
The River Cherwell is a river which flows through the Midlands of England. It is a major tributary of the River Thames.The general course of the River Cherwell is north to south and the 'straight-line' distance from its source to the Thames is about...
, the Oxford Canal
Oxford Canal
The Oxford Canal is a narrow canal in central England linking Oxford with Coventry via Banbury and Rugby. It connects with the River Thames at Oxford, to the Grand Union Canal at the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill, and to the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury Junction in Bedworth just...
and the Cherwell Valley Line
Cherwell Valley Line
The Cherwell Valley Line is the railway line between Didcot and Banbury via Oxford. It links the Great Western Main Line and the south to the Chiltern Main Line and the Midlands...
railway.
History
Grimsbury was first settled in the 6th century as a Saxon hamlet. and for centuries was a village separate from Banbury. The placename is a corruption of the SaxonSaxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
name for a defended enclosure (burh) of a person called Grim. It is possible that the name was derived from a pseudonym for the pagan god Woden (Odin
Odin
Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....
).
Grimsbury currently includes the town's Royal Mail
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
sorting office
Sorting office
Sorting office or Processing and Distribution Center is any location where postal operators bring mail after collection for sorting into batches for delivery to the addressee, which may be a direct delivery or sent onwards to another regional or local sorting office, or to another postal...
s which were built over the former Banbury Merton Street railway station
Banbury Merton Street railway station
Banbury Merton Street was the first railway station to serve the Oxfordshire market town of Banbury in England. It opened in 1850 as the northern terminus of the Buckinghamshire Railway providing connections to Bletchley and Oxford and closing for passengers in 1961 and goods in 1966.- Context...
, Banbury railway station
Banbury railway station
Banbury railway station serves the town of Banbury in Oxfordshire, England. The station is currently operated by Chiltern Railways, on the Chiltern Main Line, and has four platforms in use.-History:...
, Banbury United F.C.
Banbury United F.C.
Banbury United is a football club based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, who play in the Southern League Premier Division. They are nicknamed The Puritans and they play their home matches at the Spencer Stadium...
's ground and the Victoria Place apartment development.
Local living conditions had improved greatly during the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
with the removal of several poorly built cottages that were deemed to be only "hovel
Hovel
Hovel can mean:*A small poor-quality house: see wikt:hovel*Hövels is a municipality in the district of Altenkirchen, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany....
s" and an end to the endemic "dwarfism
Dwarfism
Dwarfism is short stature resulting from a medical condition. It is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than 4 feet 10 inches , although this definition is problematic because short stature in itself is not a disorder....
" and rickets
Rickets
Rickets is a softening of bones in children due to deficiency or impaired metabolism of vitamin D, magnesium , phosphorus or calcium, potentially leading to fractures and deformity. Rickets is among the most frequent childhood diseases in many developing countries...
that had plagued the local children in the early 19th century. A slightly later development still further east in Grimsbury was of larger houses. A lot of cottages what was called 'Waterloo' (today's Waterloo Road), which apparently lay just east of Banbury Bridge to the north of the road, had transformed from the early 19th century so that by 1841 Waterloo was considered one of the better off parts of Grimsbury. Due to Banbury’s then boom time Grimsbury's principle expansion occurred between 1852 and 1881, when some 500 houses were built, around Middleton road, Causeway, Merton Street, Duke Street, and North Street.
When meadows and a by the recently discussed race-course at Grimsbury were sold to the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
circa 1850, the owner also sold the other part of his land, north of the Middleton road to the Banbury Freehold Land Society, which was financially backed by Cobb's Bank, to build middle-class type houses on, but development was slow at the time and some plots were never built upon. The land in question and the location of today's Spice Ball Park are marked as "Liable to flooding" on the 1882, 1900, 1910 and 1922 Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
maps.
Duke Street, was located at the western edge of Wilkins’ (now demolished) brick pit, was developed around 1870. There was a substantial 'brick, tile and drain works' with a short tramway in it to the east of Grimsbury in the versinaty of Howard Street according to the 1882, 1883 1900, 1910, 1922 1923 and 1947 Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
maps. It had closed by 1923 and the last workshops had shut in 1955. It was mostly built on by 1965 according to the 1955 and 1965 O.S. maps.
The Banbury Town Council built the houses in King's Road and on the Easington estate at the time and other working-class type houses were built at the south end of Britannia Road and the area to the east between 1881 and 1930, and also in both Old Grimsbury Road and Gibbs Road in Grimsbury, and more up-market houses were built in both the Marlborough Road area and in Bath Road, Kings Road, Park Road, and Queen Street in Neithrop. The mostly late 19th-century suburb of Grimsbury witnessed rapid growth between 1881 and 1930. About 300 more houses were built after 1945, in the areas of Grimsbury Square, Fergusson Road, Howard Street, School View, and Edward Street. To the north of Grimsbury Square is the 1945-55 area of "New Grimsbury" and south of it is the 1930 and earlier old town of "Old Grimsbury".
A retail and residential development was built on the former site of the Bridge Motors Vauxhall
Vauxhall
-Demography:Many Vauxhall residents live in social housing. There are several gentrified areas, and areas of terraced townhouses on streets such as Fentiman Road and Heyford Avenue have higher property values in the private market, however by far the most common type of housing stock within...
dealership and garage and opened in 2010.
The region has in recent decades been home to many Asian
British Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
families and in recent years has been settled by many Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
immigrants.
Grimsbury is on a floodplain
Floodplain
A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...
and suffered severe floods in 1998 and 2007.
New Grimsbury
The post-1945 housing estate is situated at the northern end of the first (old) Grimsbury estate. About 300 more houses were built after 1945, in the areas of Grimsbury Square, Fergusson Road, Howard Street, School View, and Edward Street. To the north of Grimsbury Square is the 1945-55 area referred to as New Grimsbury. South of it is the old town of "Old Grimsbury" built prior to 1930. It was expanded in both the late 1950s and early 1960s with a mixture of working-class and middle-class homes. Further minor expansions were also taking place towards the north of the estate in 2008-2011.Axis and Market Quarter housing estates
Grimsbury was expanded further as the Market Quarter housing development has begun on the former cattleCattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
market site, along with the new Axis housing estate just to the east, which has added over 300 new homes and a primary school to replace Dashwood School.
The former cattle market
Grimsbury was once home to Western EuropeWestern Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
's largest cattle market, on Merton Street in Grimsbury. The market was a key feature of Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
life both in the town and countyside. In the late 1920s the economy of Banbury was revolutionised by the arrival of new industries and in particular by the relocation of the out of town livestock market to Grimsbury it used to be held in Neithrop and/or Bridge Street, Banbury. The new site selected due to its proximity to the railway station. It was formally closed in June 1998, after being abandoned several years earlyer and was replaced with a new housing development and Dashwood Primary School.
Overthorpe, Thorp Way and Wildermere Industrial Estates
Banbury Rural DistrictBanbury Rural District
Banbury was a rural district in Oxfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 from the bulk of the Banbury rural sanitary district, which had been divided between three counties...
had built another water works on the present site in the 1890s as the need for formal sewerage treatment as well as water purification
Water purification
Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, materials, and biological contaminants from contaminated water. The goal is to produce water fit for a specific purpose...
grew as the town expanded ever outward as illustrated in the 1882, 1900, 1910 and 1922 Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
maps. It would be expanded after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and modernised thereafter. Banbury Rural District
Banbury Rural District
Banbury was a rural district in Oxfordshire, England from 1894 to 1974. It was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 from the bulk of the Banbury rural sanitary district, which had been divided between three counties...
built a reservoir near today's Hennef
Hennef
Hennef is a town in the Rhein-Sieg district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated on the river Sieg, approx. 7 km south-east of Siegburg and 15 km east of Bonn. Hennef is the fourth biggest town in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis Hennef (Sieg) is a town in the Rhein-Sieg district of...
Way road circa the late 1960s.
The 1960s industrial estates are home to both many local and national firms such as Prodrive
Prodrive
Prodrive is a British motorsport and automotive engineering group based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It designs, constructs and races cars for companies and teams such as Subaru, Aston Martin and Ford...
, a Cherwell District Council depot and the town's sewerage works. It was later expanded in the mid to late 1990s and in the district council announced plans to expand it slightly eastward, but nothing has ever come of it since.
Churches
Grimsbury WesleyanWesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)
The Wesleyan Methodist Church was the name used by the major Methodist movement in Great Britain following its split from the Church of England after the death of John Wesley and the appearance of parallel Methodist movements...
Chapel in West Street was a neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
brick and stone building completed in 1871. The present Methodist
Methodist Church of Great Britain
The Methodist Church of Great Britain is the largest Wesleyan Methodist body in the United Kingdom, with congregations across Great Britain . It is the United Kingdom's fourth largest Christian denomination, with around 300,000 members and 6,000 churches...
church in West Street is modern.
The Church of England parish church
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...
of Saint Leonard
Leonard of Noblac
Leonard of Noblac or of Limoges or de Noblet , is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, in Haute-Vienne, in the Limousin of France.-Traditional biography:According to the romance that...
was designed by the local architect Walter Mills
Walter Edward Mills
Walter Edward Mills was an English architect.Mills was articled to the architect Henry Edward Cooper of Bloomsbury in 1868. He established his own independent practice in Banbury, Oxfordshire in about 1875, where by 1881 he had premises at 13, High Street....
and built in 1890 It is a Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
building with north and south aisles joined to the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
by four-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
arcades
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
.
St. Leonard's was a chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
to Christ Church in Broad Street until 1921, when Grimsbury was constituted as a separate parish with Saint Leonard’s as its church. In 1931 a fire destroyed much of the south side of St Leonard's and thereafter the church was redecorated and a new vestry built.
In 1978 a new Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
Parish of Banbury, comprising four districts, was inaugurated. In 1998 the Banbury Team Ministry was dissolved and St. Leonard's reinstated as a separate parish.
In 2001 a new dais
Dais
Dais is any raised platform located either in or outside of a room or enclosure, often for dignified occupancy, as at the front of a lecture hall or sanctuary....
was built in the nave of St. Leonard's and the High Altar was placed in the centre. The font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
was also moved from the south aisle and placed in the nave at the west end of the church.
In 2003 the church was redecorated with the central pillars being painted to reflect the decoration of the ceiling which is believed to have been designed in the style of a canal narrowboat
Narrowboat
A narrowboat or narrow boat is a boat of a distinctive design, made to fit the narrow canals of Great Britain.In the context of British Inland Waterways, "narrow boat" refers to the original working boats built in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries for carrying goods on the narrow canals...
.
Schools
There are two primary schools in Grimsbury.Dashwood Community School moved from Dashwood Road on the other side of the river to brand-new buildings in Merton Street in 2008. The school is part of a Federation with the town's main secondary school, Banbury School. It has 200 pupils. It is unusual for an Oxfordshire primary school in having a school uniform which was introduced in 2009. The headteacher is Vicki McLean.
St. Leonard's Church of England Primary School was originally Christchurch School. Its original buildings were designed by the Oxford Diocesan
Diocese of Oxford
-History:The Diocese of Oxford was created in 1541 out of part of the Diocese of Lincoln.In 1836 the Archdeaconry of Berkshire was transferred from the Diocese of Salisbury to Oxford...
architect G.E. Street
George Edmund Street
George Edmund Street was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex.- Life :Street was the third son of Thomas Street, solicitor, by his second wife, Mary Anne Millington. George went to school at Mitcham in about 1830, and later to the Camberwell collegiate school, which he left in 1839...
and built in 1860-61.
Recreational areas and parks
The town centre's Bankside park is near the railway bridge, on the opposite canal to Grimsbury.The Howard Road play area is in Grimsbury.
The Verney Road play area, Chaldons Road play aria and urban park and Alma Road village green are all in the Market Quarter estate .
There is also 1 other park and 1 minor play ground on the seat.
Pubs and bars
There are three local public houses: The Bell Inn and The Elephant and Castle are both next to the LondisLondis
Londis is the name for two convenience store franchises operating in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The stores form a symbol group and are all owned on a franchise basis.-Great Britain:...
shop and the bridge into Banbury town centre. The Pepper Pot is on the junction of Middleton Road and Daventry road.