9
ARTS, CULTURE & TOURISM
Banbury, Oxon, OX15 5EB
01295 276070
BROUGHTON
CASTLE
Broughton Castle is a moated
and fortified manor house near
Banbury in North Oxfordshire.
Set in parkland and built
out of the rich local Hornton
ironstone, it was selected by
Simon Jenkins as one of only
twenty to be awarded five stars
in his book England’s Thousand
Best Houses. The core of the
house was built in 1306 and
the gatehouse in the early
fifteenth century, but most of
what you see today dates from
the 1550s. It was a centre of
opposition to Charles I and was
besieged and damaged after
the Battle of Edgehill in 1642.
Broughton Castle is home to
the 21st Lord and Lady Saye
and Sele, whose family name
is Fiennes. The ownership of
the castle has remained in the
same family since 1447. The
house and gardens are open
on Wednesdays, Sundays and
Bank Holiday Mondays from
1st April until 30th September.
The house and gardens are
also open all the year round to
groups of any size if booked in
advance. The castle, which sits
in parkland and is surrounded
by a wide moat, was built as
a majestic manor house by
Sir John de Broughton at the
confluence of three streams.
