Adderbury

The village of Adderbury is in northern Oxfordshire, England, on the edge of the Cotswolds. Adderbury is noted for its church, which features an impressive steeple, and for the many honey-coloured Horton stone cottages in the older parts of the village.

The village is about 3 miles south of Banbury, 2 miles from Bloxham, 10 miles from Junction 10 of the M40 and 20 miles north of Oxford. The village is divided into two by the Sor Brook.

The hamlets of West Adderbury gbmapping|SP461350 and East Adderbury gbmappingsmall|SP471356 are in the civil parish.

Adderbury has a strong community spirit and there is a regular diary of clubs and events which include the History Association, 1st Adderbury Scout troop, Mothers' Union, Twyford Tigers, Over Sixties club, Gardening Club, Amateur Dramatics (Adderbury Theatre Workshop) and more.

There are four pubs: The Bell Inn, The Red Lion, The Coach & Horses and The Plough.

The village name has had several changes of spelling - it was Eadburg in the Domesday Book. The parish church of St Mary the Virgin was started in the early 13th century and largely completed by the 15th century.

A tithe barn stands near the church and probably dates mainly from the 14th century. Some village architecture is somewhat grander than that of Bloxham; for example, the sixteenth-century manor house, which has diamond-patterned brick chimney-stacks, and the Grange, built by John Bloxham of Banbury for Sir Thomas Cobb in 1682.

Adderbury House housed troops in the Civil War when Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester, and Prince Rupert of the Rhine were Royalist cavalry commanders there. In the 19th century, Adderbury House was in the possession of Major Larnach. When his Adderbury-trained horse Jeddah won the Derby at 100-1 and also won at Ascot, the Major gifted the building of the Village Institute. This opened in 1898 and has been the setting of countless village events since, ranging from early instruction and sewing meetings to the present-day activities.

The novelist Anthony Burgess lived here in the early 1950s. It was also home to the former Foreign Secretary, Anthony Crosland, MP in the 1970s. On 13 February 1977 he suffered a massive cerebral haemorrhage at his home in the village and died at the Radcliffe Royal Infirmary six days later.

Adderbury has one school, Christopher Rawlins Primary School.

Morris Dancing

The existence of the traditional Adderbury Morris dancing side was first documented by Janet Blunt. In 1916 she began interviewing William "Binx" Walton, who was then 80 years old. Walton had been foreman of the Adderbury side for 20 years in the mid 19th century. In 1919 Blunt introduced Walton to Cecil Sharp, who watched Walton's performances and published detailed descriptions in his Morris Book.

Subsequent researches have determined that there were once as many as three Morris sides in the village, and the names of more than two dozen of the 19th-century dancers have been documented. During Whitsun week they performed their dances in Adderbury and the neighbouring villages.

There are several reports of Morris dancing in the Banbury area from years gone by. Puritans in the seventeenth century complained about Morris dancers and their ungodly ways. Towards the end of the eighteenth century local teams were recorded at Aynho, Bicester, Brackley, Croughton, King's Sutton, and Middleton Cheney. During the nineteenth century sides were known to be active in Adderbury, Badby, Bloxham, Brackley, Bucknell, Deddington, and King's Sutton.

Teams regularly used to dance at Banbury Fair and the well-known Banbury eccentric, William 'Old Mettle' Castle, was fool for the Adderbury team in the last century. During the nineteenth century the village had two or possibly three teams performing although the practice had died out by the 1880s.

A revival team was established at the village school during the late Edwardian era and some of the boys developed into a men's Morris team, prior to First World War. There are pictures of this side and the identity of the members was established, through talking to older village residents, in 1974. Indeed, one of the dancers in the photographs, Charlie Coleman, was still alive at that time. Of those in the pictures, only two returned from the war and that revival of Morris dancing in Adderbury therefore died with them.

However, the dances had been recorded from two of the last surviving members of the 19th-century team, brothers William and John Walton, in such detail by Janet Blunt and others that they could still be performed by a newly-formed revival team led by Bryan Sheppard and Tim Radford. The side split in 1975 and there are now two Morris dancing sides in Adderbury, The Adderbury Village Morris Men (dressed in white and green with top hats) - whose members come from the village or surrounding parishes and only dance traditional dances from Adderbury - and the Adderbury Morris Men (dressed in white, blue and red), who are more eclectic. The Adderbury tradition became popular with groups of dancers from as far afield as the United States and Australia. Once a year both teams come together, with other guest sides, for a "Day of Dance" throughout the village.

Adderbury Theatre Workshop

In 1977, as part of the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations, a talent contest was held. It was such a success that Adderbury Theatre Workshop was formed. Every year since then, the Village Institute has hosted several dramatic and musical performances including pantomimes, cabarets and plays.

In 1984, members from Adderbury Theatre Workshop appeared at the Cropredy Festival where they performed the Pheasant Pluckers Song.

Banbury Golf Club

Banbury Golf Club [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banbury_Golf_Club - Golf Club website] is situated five miles south of Banbury on the B4100 at Adderbury and under 15 minutes from Junction 10 on the M40. It opened in 1993 and has three separate 9-hole loops.

The clubhouse, adapted from former stone dairy buildings, is located in the centre of the three loops, and comprises a combined lounge/bar area, dining room to seat up to 40 people, and gentlemen's and ladies' locker rooms.

The greens are constructed to USGA specification and are considered to be as good as any in north Oxfordshire. Par is either 71 or 72 and SSS 70 or 71, depending upon the combinations played. From the white tees the yellow and blue courses extend 6,553 yards and from the yellow tees up to 6,061 yards.

The Ladies yardage varies between 5,633 and 5,827 yards with Par 72 or 74 and SSS 72 or 73, again depending on the combination played.

Adderbury Park Football Club

Adderbury Park F.C. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adderbury_Park_F.C. - Football Club website] compete in the Oxfordshire Senior League Premier Division.

References