Broughton Road to Wroxton Obelisk Circular

The Broughton Road to Wroxton Obelisk walk is a 4.5-mile (7.3km) circular route from the car park off the B4035 near Giant's Cave, on the south-west edge of Banbury. It is moderate, with about 112m of climbing, and takes about two hours. There is no pub or café on the route, so carry what you need.

Despite what this page used to say, the walk does not go into Broughton or past its castle. The line stays north of the B4035 the whole way, and Broughton Castle is about a mile south-west of the start. It also passes about 400m east of North Newington without entering it. What you get instead is the upper Sor Brook valley, two old coverts and a hilltop monument. It is a circuit with some retracing: the first and last 700m share a path, about 300m near the first bridge is walked twice, and the obelisk is a there-and-back of about a kilometre.

Giant's Cave and the Bretch

Giant's Cave is the first thing on the walk, and you should not expect a cavern. The path climbs past an area of old pasture that Cherwell District Council's walk guide calls the Bretch, a stony spot full of hills and hollows. Local legend makes the cave the secret entrance to a tunnel to Broughton Castle, and no one has shown that there was one. The Bretch sits below Crouch Hill, which features in our story of the Civil War in Banburyshire.

Keep to the line on this first stretch. OpenStreetMap does not record a right of way on the first 470m, and Cherwell's walk guide from the same start calls the path up the field edge here a permissive path, so it may not be a public path in law.

The Sor Brook and the coverts

The middle of the walk is a long circuit of the brook, out on the west side and back on the east. You cross the Sor Brook twice, at footbridges about 1.2km and 4km from the start, and the walking between them is on field paths with no village or road. French's Covert and Keeper's Covert are the two woods you pass on the way north, and Withycombe Covert lies a little way off on the return. The GPX file you download is titled Broughton Road and Keeper's Convert Circular, a slip for Keeper's Covert, so do not be thrown by the name.

The Wroxton Obelisk

The Wroxton Obelisk is the turning point and the reason for the climb. It is a tall, slender ironstone obelisk in open farmland, listed Grade II*, and Historic England says its inscription commemorates the visit of Frederick, Prince of Wales, for the Banbury races in 1739. Historic England dates it to about 1750 and says it was probably designed by Sanderson Miller. It belongs to the eighteenth-century landscape of Wroxton Abbey, and the old approach to the Abbey from Banbury came this way.

The line turns back here and does not enter Wroxton. Our page on Wroxton Abbey sets out what is and is not confirmed about its grounds: the house is closed, a public footpath crosses them, and the village website says they remain accessible for walks and that dogs are not permitted. Read that page before planning to go further on this path.

Drayton Arch, the folly arch from the same landscape, stands about 400m east of the line. OpenStreetMap maps a track running east from the footbridge below the obelisk that passes about 110m from it. It is not part of this route, so check the line on an OS map if you want to add it.

Where to eat

There is nowhere to eat on the walk, so plan on a short drive afterwards. The nearest pub we list is The Roebuck Inn at Drayton, which welcomes dogs and has a car park, but it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and opens only at 4pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays. In North Newington, a short way west of the line, the Blinking Owl has no website or published hours, so ring 01295 730650 first. The Saye and Sele Arms in Broughton has been shut since January 2023. On its open afternoons, Wednesdays, Sundays and bank holiday Mondays from April to September, Broughton Castle has a tea room, and for a room there is Wroxton House Hotel.

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What walkers report

We have no dated walkers' reports for this route to pass on yet, and our own walk-through with the GPX is still to come, so we cannot yet tell you the stiles, gates or livestock on it. OpenStreetMap records only one gate on the line, at the car park, which says more about the map than the paths. Expect field gates and possibly stiles, and animals in some fields.

Two things are on record. In August 2026 Oxfordshire County Council made an order to divert parts of North Newington Footpaths 1 and 4, which meet this route at the junction 1.4km from the start: the line does not use the stretches being moved, but signs there may change. OpenStreetMap also marks housing under construction at Banbury Rise, about 300m east of the high point near Withycombe Farm. We found no closure on the line in November 2026, though the county's notices are not fully searchable.

Wear boots. Cherwell warns that paths in the same country can be muddy and wet even in summer, and the footpaths by the brook are the likeliest places.

Parking and getting there

Drive, if you can. OpenStreetMap maps a free car park at the start, on the north side of the B4035, and Cherwell notes a small parking area near Giant's Cave at OX15 5DY. The road is the Broughton Road out of Banbury. Cherwell calls the buses along it irregular and advises against walking along it, because it is fast and winding. On foot, the Salt Way comes across from Bodicote and the Bloxham Road, and you cross the B4035 with care to reach the start.

Other walks nearby

The Banbury Ironstone Heritage Walk covers much of the same country from the town. For a shorter walk south of Banbury, try Adderbury and Bloxham Grove, and for a ridge with a battlefield below it, the Edgehill Circular. To go inside a house after the walk, check Broughton Castle's opening days.