Oxfordshire Branch private tour of Broughton Castle.
Broughton Castle is a moated and fortified manor house , 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 1550’s. 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 & Sele, whose family name is Fiennes.
The ownership of the Castle has remained in the same family since 1447. Sir Thomas Wykeham was granted a “license to crenellate” in 1406 and these fortifications – gatehouse, moat and the battlements of the curtain wall – are the result. Sir Thomas had inherited Broughton Castle from his great uncle William of Wykeham, the founder of New College, Oxford and Winchester College who bought Broughton Castle in 1377. Their descendants still live in the Castle.
Event information:
We will meet in the car park at about 1.50.
Broughton Castle is 2.5 miles from the centre of Banbury, 3 miles from Junction 11 of the M40.
At Banbury Cross take the B4035 west signposted to Shipston on Stour then, after about two miles, turn right in Broughton village at the crossroads by the Saye & Sele Arms pub. At the bottom of the hill turn left into the drive. The car park is on your left before the Church.
Please note that all public toilets are in the main building in the car park – there are none available at the Castle.
The Saye & Sele Arms pub in the village serves lunches.