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Banburyshire
Ironstone houses among dense trees on the slopes of a small valley in late summer

Philip Halling, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Hornton

The ironstone village that gave Hornton stone its name, in a steep valley 6 miles north-west of Banbury. Thatch, a manor house dated 1607, a Grade I church with a painted Doom, and a thatched pub that keeps evening hours.

Nearest station
Banbury, about 6 miles, then a taxi. The village bus runs on Thursdays only
Parking
We found no public car park. Park with care in the village, which sits low in its valley with narrow lanes
Dogs
The Dun Cow says on its website that it is dog friendly.

About Hornton

Hornton sits at the bottom of a steep, sheltered valley about 6 miles north-west of Banbury, between two small streams that run down to the Sor Brook. This is the village that gave Hornton stone its name, and it is built of little else: rubble for the cottages, dressed ashlar for the better houses, and thatch on many of them still. Come for an hour on foot.

What to see in Hornton

The church of St John the Baptist is listed Grade I and built of the local stone. The nave, the north aisle and its arcade, and the round font come from the late twelfth century, and the chancel was rebuilt in the thirteenth. The paintings are the thing to find: a Doom, the Last Judgement, over the chancel arch, and a St George over the pulpit. More painting in the south aisle is still under whitewash. The church was restored between 1919 and 1922. We could not find published opening hours.

Around it, many sixteenth and seventeenth-century farmhouses survive. The manor house, now a farmhouse, carries the inscription 1607 and is built on the through-passage plan of the region. The Mount dates from the end of the seventeenth century, and Proffitt's House is listed Grade II*. They are private homes, so look from the lanes. Hornton is a conservation area, appraised by the council in April 2013.

A faded medieval wall painting of the Last Judgement filling the wall above a pointed stone chancel arch
The Doom over the chancel arch, St John the Baptist, Hornton Photo: Michael Garlick, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The stone and the quarries

Quarrymen and masons appear in Hornton's records from 1609, and in 1851 the census counted 19 stonemasons and 5 quarrymen in the village. The quarries supplied much of the building stone of the Banbury and Edgehill districts. Carr's Pit, the last of the Hornton quarries worked for Hornton stone proper, closed in 1942. At the old quarry by the A422, spoil heaps still show the fresh blue-green stone inside and the weathered brown outside, and a 2020 survey found no work going on there. It is not an attraction and gives no right of access; our page on the Hornton quarries says what can be seen and from where.

An hour in Hornton

Start at the green, walk to the church for the Doom, then wander the lanes looking for date-stones. That is a morning's stop, not a day. Put it with Horley for its St Christopher, or with Upton House, under 2 miles west on the ridge, for the afternoon.

Walks from Hornton

We found no council or parish leaflet for a walk from Hornton, so we suggest no route. Footpaths climb out of the valley towards Horley and the ridge at Edgehill, and an OS Explorer map is the way to plan one. Expect steep ground both ways.

Food and drink

The Dun Cow on West End is a thatched house of the late seventeenth century, listed Grade II, and the county history finds it open by 1854 as a butcher's and beer shop together. Its own website gives Wednesday evenings from 5pm, Friday and Saturday from 3pm to 10.30pm and Sunday from 3pm to 8pm, closed on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, with small plates on Friday and Saturday evenings from 6pm to 9pm. The freehold was on the market when we checked, so ring before you go. The Bell at Shenington, about 2 miles south-west, opens at lunchtime from Friday to Sunday.

When to come

Any dry day, and a Wednesday evening or the weekend if you want the Dun Cow open. We found no regular village events we could confirm.

Last verified 11 November 2026 by our editors

  • A narrow lane between a thatched cottage and ironstone houses leading to a churchyard gate and a square church tower
  • A long row of thatched ironstone cottages with hanging baskets beside a small green
  • An ironstone church with a square west tower and a south porch above a dry summer churchyard
  • A long ironstone house with gabled dormers and a flag, autumn leaves on the grass in front
  • Ironstone cottages behind a stone wall with purple wisteria in flower and wooded hillside behind

Things to do in Hornton

See all
Herbaceous borders and clipped hedges reflected in the still water of the mirror pool at Upton House

Historic houses and heritage

Upton House and Gardens

A National Trust house on the Edge Hill ridge, remodelled in the 1920s for the oil magnate Lord Bearsted to show his paintings by Bosch, El Greco, Stubbs and Hogarth, above terraced gardens that drop 30m to a Mirror Pool.

  • Labelled beds of sage and mint in front of an ironstone barn and greenhouses

    The National Herb Centre, Warmington

    Parks and gardens

    A plant centre at Warmington, near Banbury, growing culinary and medicinal herbs, fruit and native wildflowers, most of them on site in peat-free compost, with a café bistro, a play area and nature trails.

    Verified Nov 2026

  • A symmetrical honey-brown Palladian house across a round lawn and a wide gravel sweep under a clear sky

    Farnborough Hall

    Historic houses and heritage

    A Palladian house north of Banbury, still lived in by the Holbech family and run with the National Trust, with a raised terrace walk to an obelisk. A few rooms and the grounds open from April to September. Closed until 7 April 2027.

    Walker-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • The round stone Beacon on a grassy hilltop under a clear blue sky, a walker on the path below

    Burton Dassett Hills Country Park

    Parks and gardens · Burton Dassett

    A hundred acres of open hilltop in south Warwickshire with wide views, old quarry workings and a beacon, plus the medieval church of All Saints. A country park since 1971. Car parking £3.50 a day.

    Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Walker-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

Where to eat and drink in Hornton

See all
  • The Bell at Shenington, a long ironstone pub with benches on the green under a bare tree

    The Bell, Shenington

    Pubs

    An ironstone country pub on the village green at Shenington, opened in 1700, with a log fire, flagstones, a short chalkboard menu that changes with the seasons, and dogs and muddy boots welcome.

    Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Walker-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • The octagonal stone tower of the Castle Inn above its garden, picnic tables on the grass

    The Castle at Edgehill

    Pubs · Edgehill and Radway

    A pub and restaurant in the castellated 18th-century tower on top of Edgehill, above the 1642 battlefield, with Hook Norton ales, large gardens, five en-suite rooms and a gin school in the tower.

    Family-friendly · Wedding venues

    Verified Nov 2026

  • A long ironstone pub hung with flower baskets beside a quiet village road

    The Moon and Sixpence, Hanwell

    Pubs · Hanwell

    A refurbished dining pub on Main Street in Hanwell, about two miles north-west of Banbury, with an open kitchen run by chef Hylton Bradley, a set lunch and dinner menu, and a large car park.

    Family-friendly · Walker-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

Walks in and around Hornton

All walks starting here
  • The castellated tower of the Castle Inn at Edgehill from the air, woodland falling away below

    Edgehill Circular

    Walk · Starts in Edgehill and Radway · 2 hrs, 30 mins · Circular

    The Edgehill Circular is a 5.4-mile (8.6km) moderate circular walk from the Upton House car park, about two and a half hours with 220m of climbing. It follows the Edge Hill ridge to the Castle pub, returns through Ratley, and has six stiles and 500m on the A422.

  • A tall ironstone manor house with leaded windows and a projecting porch beside the lane, under a clear blue sky

    North Newington and Wroxton Circular

    Walk · Starts in North Newington · 2 hrs · Circular

    A 3.3-mile (5.3km) circular walk from Main Street, North Newington, taking about two hours of moderate walking. It follows field paths to the Sor Brook, climbs past the Wroxton Obelisk into Wroxton and returns over the fields.

  • A stone arched bridge over the running Sor Brook, a track climbing the green field beyond towards a clump of trees

    Broughton Road to Wroxton Obelisk Circular

    Walk · Starts in Broughton · 2 hrs · Circular

    A 4.5-mile (7.3km) circular walk from the car park on Broughton Road, about two hours of moderate walking on field paths. It crosses the Sor Brook, climbs to the Wroxton Obelisk and returns by the other bank. It does not go through Broughton or past the castle.

Sights in and around Hornton

All sights
  • Sheep grazing under a spreading tree on the Edgehill escarpment, the Warwickshire plain stretching beyond

    Edge Hill viewpoint

    Sight · Viewpoint · Edgehill and Radway

    The long view from the top of Edge Hill, north-west of Banbury, across the plain where the Battle of Edgehill was fought in 1642. There is no signed viewpoint: the ridge road, the footpaths and the garden of a 1740s sham castle are how you see it.

  • Wroxton Dovecote, a round ironstone tower with a battlemented top, sheep grazing around it

    Wroxton Dovecote

    Sight · Historic building · Wroxton

    A Gothic dovecote of 1745 by Sanderson Miller in the park of Wroxton Abbey, west of Banbury, built both to house pigeons and to look like a small castle from the house. Ironstone, polygonal and Grade II*. In the Abbey's park, so seen from a distance.

  • Wroxton Abbey from the air, its gabled front surrounded by parkland and autumn trees

    Wroxton Abbey

    Sight · Historic building · Wroxton

    A Jacobean house of about 1618 west of Banbury, on the site of a medieval priory and long the home of the Norths. Grade I. It is a college and closed to visitors. It passed to an alumni-led group in 2025 to 2026, and a public footpath crosses the grounds.

History of Hornton

Hornton shared an ancient parish with Horley and grew up between the two streams, spreading later up the hillside. It was always the larger of the two: about 485 people in 1801, just over 590 in 1841 and 1851, and 318 in 1961.

The stone made the village's name beyond it. The county history says Gilbert Scott admired it and Henry Moore favoured it, and Moore's Recumbent Figure of 1938, in the Tate, is carved from green Hornton stone. At home there were pubs for the trade: the Rock Tavern, recorded in 1854 near the quarries, served mainly quarrymen. The Primitive Methodists built a chapel in 1842.

Questions about Hornton

Why is it called Hornton stone?

Because it was most worked here. The Victoria County History finds quarrymen and masons in Hornton from 1609, and its quarries supplied much of the building stone around Banbury and Edgehill until Carr's Pit closed in 1942.

Is there a pub in Hornton?

Yes, the Dun Cow, a thatched Grade II pub on West End. Its website gives Wednesday evening and weekend hours, with small plates on Friday and Saturday evenings. The pub was for sale when we checked, so ring first.

Is Hornton in the Cotswolds?

No. The Cotswolds National Landscape boundary passes between 1 and 2km away on Natural England's map, but Hornton is outside it. It is an ironstone village, built of the darker stone of the Banbury country.

Can you visit the Hornton quarries?

Not as a visitor attraction. The old pits are private and designation gives no right of access. Stay on public footpaths and roads.

Getting to Hornton

By bus
The 79, run by Oxfordshire County Council, leaves Hornton green for Banbury at 10am on Thursdays, back early afternoon. Some journeys run on request (November 2026).
By train
Banbury station is about 6 miles away. Take a taxi.
By car
About 6.5 miles from Banbury Cross, 18 minutes, by the A422 Stratford road and the lane north into the valley.
Parking
No public car park that we found. Park with care on the lanes.
Access
The village lies at the bottom of a steep valley and climbs the hillside, so most routes in and out are on a slope.
Map of Hornton
© OpenStreetMap contributors

Places near Hornton

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