W.]

HORLEY.--Altitudes, 500-400; population, 247; is 4 miles north-west of
Banbury, and may be reached by a pleasant footpath passing over Ruscot
Hill and through Drayton fields. The village stands at the neck dividing
two of the high vales of North Oxon, the Lias ironstone covering all the
high lands thereabouts. St. Ethelreda's Church, plain, square towered and
full of good old Early English work, is in mid village; the two pointed
arches between chancel and nave, the old glass of the north aisle and the
great mural painting of Saint Christopher, the Christ bearer, with the
legend:

"What are thou; and art so yying
Bar I never so heavy a thinge."

"Yey, I be hevy, no wunther nys
For I am the Kynge of blys."

All these, and the organ (1765), are worth the passing hour of the
wayfarer. Many of the houses, for instance that of Mr. B. Hirons, are of
good proportion and build. At the north-west end of the village, Clump
Lane leads to some beautifully terraced fields known as Steps Meadow and
Hadsham Hollow, and the footway along the high bank to the near village of
Hornton is also one of the pleasant ways of the countryside. At the Yellow
Well beyond the Horley House a dole of bread was wont to be made on St.
Thomas's day.

RADWAY.--Altitude, 400; population, 216; 9 miles north-west of Banbury; is
pleasantly reached by the pathway below the Tower at Ratley Grange. Radway
Grange by alteration about 1735 lost most of its good features as a
building--it stands on the slopes of its park land at the foot of the
hill. The farm pool runs close to the road side, and a pleasant prospect
of the hill side is got through its foliage. The church is more noticeable
for its enclosure of the Kingsmill monument, one of the burials of the
Edge Hill fight, than for its architectural style. The wide openings of
the village and the high wooded lanes of the Edge are diversified with
many a pleasant path and resting place.

[Illustration: COMPTON WYNYATES, ANGLE AND CHIMNEYS.]

WARMINGTON.--Altitudes: high town, 600; low town, 409; population, 269.
The village is within the Warwickshire border, 5-1/2 miles to the north of
Banbury, and is built on the slopes of a continuation of the Edge Hill
escarpment. From the south side it is hidden from view by the woods of
Deddington Hill. The church stands on a bold mass of Lias rock jutting
into the roadway, and with the old homesteads surrounding the green and
pool and the high ba