Aynho

Aynho (formerly spelt "Aynhoe") is a village in South Northamptonshire, England. It is located five miles (eight kilometres) south of Banbury, close to the border with Oxfordshire. Along with its neighbour Croughton, Northamptonshire (two kilometres to the east) it is one of the two southernmost villages in Northamptonshire. Aynho lies close to the River Cherwell.

The settlement pre-dates the Norman conquest, the name being derived from "Aienho", a Saxon word for a spring, grove or hill. The circular village was surrounded by a defensive wall parts of which can still be seen. At the conquest, Aynhoe's owner, Asgar,a Saxon thane and standard bearer to Edward the Confessor,was forced to cede the property to Geoffre de Mandeville,whose family lived there for several generations. Later the house passed through the Claverings, the Nevilles, the Fitzalans, the Shakerleys, the Tracys and the Marmions. In the late 16th century, Aynhoe Park was sold to Richard Cartwright (b.1563, a barrister and member of the Inner Temple,from a Cheshire family) who moved in in 1616. It then remained in the Cartwright Family for over three hundred years. Several cottages in the village, some with exterior staircases, predate Tudor times. A Tudor yeoman's house was turned into a free Grammar School founded in 1654 by John Cartwright, and later became the Dower House of the Manor of Aynhoe Park. [Osborne, Edgar, Ed." Aynhoe Park: An Illustrated Survey of the Northamptonshire Home of the Cartwright Family." Published by St. Michael's Church House Derby]

The village was once served by two rail stations, both operated by the Great Western Railway. Aynho station was on the main Oxford-Banbury GWR route, constructed in the 1850s. It was closed in 1964, and is still intact today. Aynho Park Halt was on the Bicester cut-off constructed by the GWR in 1910, approximately a quarter of a mile to the east of Aynho station. It was closed in 1963, and its station building remains intact as well. The nearby flying junction between the two GWR main lines is still in use today, traversed by a variety of traffic operating from Birmingham and the North of England to Oxford, Reading, London and the south coast of England.

The village is on the Oxford Canal with Aynho Wharf, near Aynho station.

Prominent residents have included mathematician Mary Cartwright, 17th century politician Sir Ralph Winwood, and architect Philip Speakman Webb.

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