In 1887, John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles described Banbury like this:
Banbury, mun. bor. and par. with ry. sta., Oxfordshire, on river Cherwell, 21 miles N. of Oxford and 78 miles NW. of London by rail -- par., 3408 ac., pop. 9660; local government dist., 4682 ac., pop. 12,072; mun. bor., 81 ac., pop. 3600; 5 Banks, 3 newspapers. Market-day, Thursday. It has foundries and breweries; also mfrs. of cheese and the familiar Banbury cakes. The battle of Banbury was fought (1469) on the neighbouring plain of Danesmoor. The bor. returned 1 member to Parliament until 1885.
Banbury through time
For the best overall sense of how the area containing Banbury has changed, please see our redistricted information for the modern district of Cherwell. More detailed statistical data are available under Historical units & statistics for administrative units named after or covering Banbury.
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