Grimsbury

Grimsbury
Northamptonshire
St Leonard's
Location
Grid reference:	SP4641
Location:	52°3’54"N, 1°19’19"W
Data
Post town:	Banbury
Postcode:	OX16
Dialling code:	01295
Local Government
Council:	Cherwell
Parliamentary constituency:	Banbury

Grimsbury is a largely residential area of Northamptonshire which forms the eastern part of Banbury, otherwise in Oxfordshire. It is east of the River Cherwell, which here forms the county border, the Oxford Canal and the Cherwell Valley Line 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 Saxon 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.

The tything of the ancient parish of Warkworth was created as a civil parish in 1894, which existed until it was annexed by Banbury Corporation in 1932.

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".

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.

The cattle market

Grimsbury was once home to Western Europe's largest cattle market, on Merton Street in Grimsbury. The market was a key feature of Victorian life both in the town and countryside. 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 earlier and was replaced with a new housing development and Dashwood Primary School.

Churches

Grimsbury Wesleyan 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 St 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.

Sources and further reading

• Crossley, Alan (ed.); Colvin, Christina; Cooper, Janet; Cooper, N.H.; Harvey, P.D.A.; Hollings, Marjory; Hook, Judith; Jessup, Mary et al. (1972). A History of the County of Oxford, Volume 10. Victoria County History. pp. 18–28. 
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 444. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.