Horley is a village and civil parish in the north of Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

 about 3 miles (5 km) north-west of Banbury

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...

.

Parish church

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 Etheldreda was built in the 12th century. It was remodelled in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries and thus incorporates a mixture of Norman

Norman architecture

About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...

, Early English, Decorated Gothic and Perpendicular Gothic features. The interior of St. Etheldreda's has Mediaeval wall paintings: a large and well-preserved one of Saint Christopher

Saint Christopher

.Saint Christopher is a saint venerated by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, listed as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd century Roman Emperor Decius or alternatively under the Roman Emperor Maximinus II Dacian...

 and a rare one of Saint Zita

Zita

Saint Zita was an Italian saint, the patron saint of maids and domestic servants. She is also appealed to in order to help find lost keys.-Life:...

. There are also several groups of five interlinked red rings, enclosing the letter "t", said to refer to Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket

Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...

. The Scottish architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 William Weir

William Weir (architect)

William Weir was a Scottish architect who specialised in the repair of ancient structures.Weir left school at sixteen to become a pupil of Edinburgh architect Archibald MacPherson, while also attending the Edinburgh School of Art...

 restored the building in 1915.

In 1947-50 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...

 Surveyor T. Lawrence Dale

T. Lawrence Dale

Thomas Lawrence Dale, FRIBA, FSA was an English architect. Until the First World War he concentrated on designing houses for private clients...

 added a chancel screen and rood loft

Rood screen

The rood screen is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or wrought iron...

. Dale described this work as "One of the most enjoyable things he ever did", likening it to "putting new wine into an old bottle".

The tower has a ring

Change ringing

Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called "changes". It differs from many other forms of campanology in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody....

 of four bells, all cast by William and Henry III Bagley of Chacombe in 1706. They are currently unringable.

St. Etheldreda's is now one of eight ecclesiastical parishes in the Ironstone Benefice.

Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway

The Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway

Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway

The Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway was a standard gauge mineral railway that served an ironstone quarry near the village of Wroxton in Oxfordshire.-The line's History:...

 was built during The First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 to carry ironstone

Ironstone

Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical repacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron compound from which iron either can be or once was smelted commercially. This term is customarily restricted to hard coarsely...

 from a quarry west of Horley to a junction with 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...

 just north of Banbury. The ironstone railway passed just south of Horley, where a concrete bridge carried the railway over the Horley–Wroxton

Wroxton

Wroxton is a village and civil parish in the north of Oxfordshire about west of Banbury.-History:Wroxton is recorded as having a church in 1217, but the present Church of England parish church of All Saints is early 14th century. A Perpendicular Gothic clerestory and porch were added early in the...

 road. The railway was opened in 1917 and closed in 1967.

Amenities

Horley has one public house

Public house

A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...

, the Red Lion, that serves a range of real ales.

Horley Cricket Club has boys' and men's teams. Its men's team plays in Oxfordshire Cricket Association Division One.

An amateur dramatic

Amateur theatre

Amateur theatre is theatre performed by amateur actors. These actors are not typically members of Actors' Equity groups or Actors' Unions as these organizations exist to protect the professional industry and therefore discourage their members from appearing with companies which are not a signatory...

society, Horley Footlights, has staged productions in the village every year since 2003.