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A long row of rubble-stone cottages with brick chimneys behind a grass verge, bare branches overhead in spring sun

Steve Daniels, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Stratton Audley

A small stone village 2 miles north-east of Bicester, once split between Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, with a Grade I church holding a marble Sir John Borlase dressed as a Roman, the site of the Audleys' castle and a pub that reopened in 2025.

Nearest station
Bicester North, about 2.5 miles, then a taxi; the 82 bus leaves from Pioneer Square in the town centre
Parking
We found no public car park. Park with care in the village streets

About Stratton Audley

Stratton Audley lies about 2 miles north-east of Bicester, half a mile off the Roman road from Alchester to Towcester that gave it the first half of its name; the Audley family, its lords in the thirteenth century, gave the second. It is laid out like the letter H: two parallel streets joined by a road past the church and the manor house. Come for the church, which is the best thing here by some way, and a drink at the Red Lion if it is open (ring first).

St Mary and St Edburga

The church is listed Grade I. Its second dedication is to St Edburg, to whom Bicester's parish church is also dedicated. It was largely rebuilt in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, though a twelfth-century doorway survives, now disused, in the south aisle, and a sanctus bellcote sits over the chancel arch. Inside are heraldic medieval glass in two aisle windows, a Jacobean pulpit and an elm table given by the churchwardens and dated 1636.

The thing to see is the marble tomb of Sir John Borlase, who died in 1688 or 1689: he reclines as a Roman, with a weeping figure on either side. Tablets name his brother Baldwin and Sir John Borlase Warren, who died in 1822, and later ones the hunting men and soldiers who lived here, among them Lord Chesham, who died in 1907, and Major-General Merton Beckwith-Smith, who died in 1942. We found no published opening hours.

The castle site and the manor

South-east of the church, in a meadow called Court Close in the bend of a stream, stood the Audleys' castle; James Audley was granted oak from Brill forest to repair it in 1263. Nothing stands now: a rectangular moat enclosed it, and its foundations were dug out about 1870. The manor house across the road keeps a sixteenth-century wing, the 'Court Room', probably built by John Borlase about 1545, with a carved Audley shield reset in its porch. It is private, so see it from the road.

An hour in Stratton Audley

See the church and walk the two streets of the H, with the manor and Court Close at the crossbar. Then head back to Bicester, whose RAF Bicester story touches this village too: the station had a dormitory site in the parish.

Walks

We found no council or parish leaflet for a walk from Stratton Audley, so we suggest no route. Plan any walk on the field paths with an OS map.

Food and drink

The Red Lion on Church Street, a listed building, reopened in July 2025 under a new team after nearly two years shut, the parish council reported. Its website gives Wednesday to Saturday 12pm to 10.30pm and Sunday 12pm to 7pm, closed Monday and Tuesday, with food at lunch and in the evening Wednesday to Saturday and until 4pm on Sunday, and says well-behaved dogs on a lead are welcome. Ring first (01869 222400) before you make the trip for it. Otherwise, eat in Bicester.

When to come

Any day, as a short trip from Bicester. The bus runs Monday to Saturday only, and only a few times a day.

Last verified 11 November 2026 by our editors

  • A battlemented stone church tower rising between dark yews above a churchyard of crosses and a bench
  • A tall gabled rubble-stone house with tall brick chimneys along a curving village road in low sun
  • A bend in a quiet village street, a long stone house with a stone-slate roof behind a low wall and tall pines
  • A row of stone cottages behind a strip of green on a village road, chestnut leaves turning overhead
  • A pinnacled church tower above yews and trees, seen over a rubble-stone wall and a metal field gate

Things to do in Stratton Audley

See all
Low hangars and brick buildings of an old airfield among trees, seen from the air at sunset with fields beyond

Tours and experiences · Bicester

Sky Wave Gin Distillery, Bicester Motion

A small-batch gin and vodka distillery in the North Tanker Sheds at Bicester Motion, the former RAF Bicester, with 75-minute tours and tastings on Fridays and Saturdays, a weekday shop and an indoor bar at weekends.

  • A red Jaguar sports car cornering on an airfield track, grass and trees behind

    Everyman Driving Experiences at Bicester Heritage

    Tours and experiences · Bicester

    Supercar and film-car driving days run by Everyman on Bicester Motion's experience track at the former RAF Bicester, on a few set dates a year, with weekday drives with a passenger ride from £59.

    Verified Nov 2026

  • An empty indoor climbing hall of brightly coloured walls and towers behind a curved purple wall, café tables in front

    Clip 'n Climb Bicester

    Family days out · Bicester

    An indoor climbing centre on Bessemer Close in Bicester with more than 20 auto-belay climbing lines for ages 4 and up, short family sessions from age 2, a pottery-painting room and a café beside the arena.

    Family-friendly · Rainy days

    Verified Nov 2026

  • A cinema entrance with a red Vue sign under a timber-slatted tower, shoppers crossing a paved square

    Vue Bicester

    Family days out · Bicester

    Bicester's seven-screen cinema, at the Pioneer Centre on Bure Place in the town centre, showing new films in 2D and 3D and Vue's Big Screen Events, with cheaper tickets online and free parking at the local Sainsbury's.

    Family-friendly · Rainy days

    Verified Nov 2026

Where to eat and drink in Stratton Audley

See all
  • A long stone pub with a hanging sign beside the village street at Hethe, cars parked in front

    The Muddy Duck, Hethe

    Pubs

    A village pub in Hethe, north of Bicester, cooking sharing plates with a Japanese twist alongside a Sunday menu, with a garden and dogs welcome. Open Thursday to Sunday.

    Dog-friendly · Family-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

  • Sushi rolls, sashimi and small dishes on a wooden board before a slatted timber wall, a copper-handled teapot behind

    Mizu Japanese Izakaya, Bicester

    Restaurants · Bicester

    An independent Japanese izakaya on Sheep Street, Bicester, with sharing plates, sushi and drinks pairings, open for lunch and dinner from Tuesday to Sunday and bookable online for up to six.

    Rainy days

    Verified Nov 2026

  • A three-storey red-brick former post office at dusk, its gilded name lit above the door and tables outside on the paving

    The Penny Black, Bicester

    Pubs · Bicester

    The Wetherspoon pub in Bicester's old post office of 1914 on Sheep Street, open from 8am every day until midnight, or 1am Thursday to Saturday, with a licensed outside area, step-free access and baby changing.

    Family-friendly

    Verified Nov 2026

Walks in and around Stratton Audley

All walks starting here
  • Meadows and scrub crossed by a winding path, the roofs of a housing estate beyond under a blue sky

    Bicester West Health Route and Bure Park

    Walk · Starts in Bicester · 1 hr, 10 mins · Circular · Dog-friendly

    The Bicester West Health Route is a 5K (3.1-mile) easy circular walk on a painted blue line through Bure Park and west Bicester, about 70 minutes. It is a town loop on pavements and paths, ending through a railway tunnel in Bure Park Nature Reserve.

  • A square ivy-covered stone dovecote with a tiled roof and an outside stair, a path and lawn beside it

    Bicester Historic Town Trail

    Walk · Starts in Bicester · 1 hr, 15 mins · Circular

    The Bicester Historic Town Trail is a 1.9-mile (3km) easy circular walk round the old town, about an hour and a quarter with stops. It links 25 buildings on the council's leaflet, from the priory's dovecote and St Edburg's church to Market Square, Sheep Street and Garth Park.

Sights in and around Stratton Audley

All sights
  • Green and brick wartime buildings around a concrete yard, a red bus and a traction engine in the middle

    Bicester Heritage (RAF Bicester)

    Sight · Historic building · Bicester

    The technical site of RAF Bicester, which Historic England calls the best preserved of the bomber bases built in the RAF's expansion from 1923, now home to firms restoring historic cars. Its listed hangars and workshops open to the public on event days such as the Scrambles.

  • A narrow stream between rough grass and bare trees, a pipe crossing it low over the water

    Bure Park Nature Reserve, Bicester

    Sight · Nature reserve · Bicester

    A local nature reserve of 8.4 hectares on the north side of Bicester: meadow, young woodland, hedges and scrub along the little River Bure, with a pond that holds great crested newts. Free, small and local, a ten-minute walk from the town centre.

  • A red-brick house with timbered gables seen across a wide lawn and a flower bed, benches in the sun

    Garth Park, Bicester

    Sight · Common or park · Bicester

    Bicester's town park: about 9 acres of lawns, specimen trees and formal beds round Garth House, a Victorian hunting lodge given to the town in 1946. It has the 1732 bell of the old Town Hall, a bandstand, a café and play areas, a few minutes from Market Square.

History of Stratton Audley

For centuries part of the village belonged to Caversfield parish, and so to Buckinghamshire: in 1755 fourteen houses, on the east side of the main street and including the Plough, were in Caversfield. The anomaly ended in 1844, when the enclaves passed to Oxfordshire. Mainwaring's Red Regiment was quartered here in 1643, and in 1645 the parliamentarian Captain Abercromby was defeated and mortally wounded in a skirmish near the village.

In the nineteenth century Stratton was a hunting village. T. Tyrwhitt-Drake, master of the Bicester and Warden Hill Hunt for most of 1851 to 1866, turned the old rectory into a hunting box, later Stratton Audley Hall, and kennels were built near it. Two later masters, Lord Valentia and Lord Chesham, rented the Hall in turn between 1872 and 1893. Sir John Borlase Warren dug near the fishponds early in the century in the vain hope of finding coal.

Questions about Stratton Audley

What is there to see in Stratton Audley?

Chiefly the Grade I church of St Mary and St Edburga, with the marble tomb of Sir John Borlase shown as a Roman. The site of the Audleys' castle is a meadow south-east of the church, with nothing standing.

Is there a pub in Stratton Audley?

Yes, the Red Lion on Church Street, which reopened in July 2025, the parish council reported. Its website gives Wednesday to Sunday opening, closed Monday and Tuesday; ring first (01869 222400).

Why was Stratton Audley partly in Buckinghamshire?

Part of the village belonged to a manor attached to Caversfield parish, which was in Buckinghamshire. Those houses, on the east side of the main street, stayed in Caversfield until the enclaves were transferred to Oxfordshire in 1844.

Getting to Stratton Audley

By bus
Z & S Transport's 82 loop from Bicester Pioneer Square calls at Glen Close, Monday to Saturday: twice in the morning towards Bicester, three times later in the day back (November 2026).
By train
Bicester North is about 2.5 miles away and Bicester Village about 3; then a taxi, or walk into the town centre for the 82.
By car
About 3 miles, 9 minutes, from Bicester. From Banbury, about 17 miles, 26 minutes, by the M40 and Bicester.
Parking
No public car park that we found. Park considerately in the village.
Map of Stratton Audley
© OpenStreetMap contributors

Places near Stratton Audley

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