Giant's Cave, Banbury

Giant's Cave is a patch of old pasture full of humps and hollows off the Broughton Road, on the south-west edge of Banbury, below Crouch Hill. Cherwell District Council's map calls it Giant's Cave park. It is free, it comes with a legend and a quarry theory, and it is a stop on a council walk. You will also see it written Giants Caves.

What it is

The record is thin, and the council's leaflet is the best of it. Cherwell's Banbury Fringe Circular Walk leaflet (opens in a new tab) says Giant's Cave forms part of an area of old pasture known as the Bretch, which it glosses as 'a stony spot full of hills and hollows'. Paul Mobbs, on his rambles site, calls Giant's Caves a late medieval quarry below Crouch Hill. That would fit the ground and the name of the Bretch, and we found no archaeological report that confirms or rejects it. We also found no source that calls them natural caves.

The council's walk guide on Go Jauntly, last updated in September 2024, points out rock formations beside the hardstanding at the start of the walk. We could not find any description of a 'cave' as such, how big it is, or whether any opening survives. Come for the walk and the story, and do not expect a cavern.

The legend of the giant

Legend has it that the 'cave' was the secret entrance to a tunnel running to Broughton Castle, nearly a mile away, and used during the Civil War of the 1640s. That is the leaflet's account of the local story, not a finding, and no one has shown there was a tunnel. The same is true of the giant: the leaflet says a Good Friday fair was held here until the nineteenth century, and that an image on the flag flown at the fair is thought to be him.

The surrounding history is firmer. Crouch Hill, close by, was held by Sir William Waller's Parliamentarians in June 1644 before the battle of Cropredy Bridge, and in October that year Colonel Henry Gage's Royalist cavalry used it as a base to relieve the siege of Banbury Castle, says the leaflet. Our story of the Civil War in Banburyshire covers both.

Walking to it

Cherwell's waymarked Banbury Fringe walk, 10 miles (16km) in all, is the way in. The leaflet offers it in shorter sections, and two of them meet here. Bodicote to Giant's Cave, through the village and along the Salt Way, is 2.5 miles (4km). Giant's Cave to the Mineral Railway Path, through fields and woodland and along a farm track, is another 2.5 miles, and the council's Go Jauntly guide to that stretch, the Banbury Linear Walk North West, allows about an hour and a half. The Salt Way is an old green lane, thought to have carried salt from Droitwich to London.

Coming along the Salt Way, you cross the Broughton Road with care and take the wooden steps over the wall into the park, then turn right and follow the path to the hardstanding. The walk goes on by permissive paths uphill along the field edge, so keep to the line. The leaflet is the September 2020 edition and tells you to check the council's page for changes. Wear boots: it warns that the woodland path further on can be wet and muddy, even in summer.

Getting there

By car, take the Broughton Road (the B4035) out of Banbury. The leaflet notes a small area for parking off the road near Giant's Cave, and the council's Go Jauntly guide gives its postcode as OX15 5DY. It is a fast, winding road, so do not stop on the verge or walk along it; the same guide says buses on the Broughton Road are irregular. On foot, the Salt Way brings you here from Bodicote or the Bloxham Road. The town centre and Banbury station are at the other end of a longer walk, and the bus page has the local services.

Nearby

Broughton and its castle are the obvious next stop, but check Broughton Castle's opening days first, because they are few. Our guide to things to do in Banbury has the rest of the town. On the Bodicote side of the walk, The Plough is the pub to aim for.