Minster Lovell, Rollright Stones and Deddington “Castle”

First stop on Tuesday (and our last day of exploring this region from our Banbury base) was Minster Lovell Hall & Dovecote. Minster Lovell was the centre of the Lovell family estate from the 12th Century.

In the 15th century, William Lovell, the 7th Baron Lovell (d. 1455) and one of the richest men in England, built a splendid manor house, beside the River Windrush, that remained the family home until the 18th century (heaven only knows who inherited it then but clearly they trashed the place).

The River Windrush – several families out today having picnics (it was a scorching 26C degrees today!).

Below: St Kenelm’s Church (situated next to the Hall)

The medieval dovecote (pictured below and on now privately owned land) could house up to 700 pairs of nesting birds which were bred for eating. In 1716, ‘ten dozen good ripe pigeons’ were taken out of the dovecote.

Pics from the exceptionally quaint village of Minster Lovell.

Next stop was Rollright Stones (similar to Stonehenge only smaller). Jarrah found them so totally under-whelming that not only did she decide they weren’t even worth taking a photo of (despite their history dating back to the Neolithic age approx 3500 years BCE) but she decided a picture of weeds would be more entertaining. I think its fair to assume that Stonehenge is off the list.
Anyone interested in seeing the stones and/or reading about some of their history – have a look here.

Thinking things could only get better after Rollright, we arrived at Deddington “Castle” to find that not only is there no castle but there aren’t even any ruins! Which begs the question … why call it Deddington “Castle”? AND … there is a Trust to maintain this historic site! What the hell? How much does it cost to mow some grass every few weeks in summer?

I kid you not, first pic below is Deddington “Castle” …. there is even a sign to mark the spot – lest you miss it!! You’re welcome, saved you a wasted trip. However, as we aim not to disappoint, our resident artist has done an artists impression of what the castle looked like when it still existed … (again, you’re welcome!).

And so ends our time in Oxfordshire and its surrounds – on Friday we are moving “home” to Haworth in Yorkshire.