Scenic Point in Oxfordshire

Burford is one of the finest and most completely preserved Cotswold market towns, a settlement on the River Windrush in Oxfordshire whose long High Street descending steeply to the medieval bridge provides one of the most satisfying townscapes in the English countryside. The combination of the fifteenth-century church of St John the Baptist, the former wool merchant houses of the High Street and the surrounding Windrush Valley landscape creates a destination of exceptional quality and historical depth. The church of St John the Baptist at the foot of the High Street is one of the largest and most richly decorated medieval churches in the Cotswolds, its interior containing elaborate perpendicular Gothic stonework, brasses and monuments of considerable quality and a remarkable collection of seventeenth-century wall tablets. The church has a specific historical association with the Levellers, the radical democratic movement of the English Civil War whose soldiers were imprisoned in the church by Cromwell's forces in 1649 before three of their leaders were shot in the churchyard in the suppression of the Leveller mutiny. The High Street descends between buildings of consistent Cotswold limestone quality from the broad upper market area through progressively steeper and narrower sections to the medieval bridge over the Windrush. The range of independent shops, galleries and the quality of the accommodation available in this relatively small town reflects the sustained popularity of Burford as a destination for visitors who seek the Cotswold experience in a genuinely historic rather than a commercialised context.

Minster Lovell in Oxfordshire is one of the most romantically beautiful ruined manor houses in England, a fifteenth-century hall house on the banks of the River Windrush whose combination of the substantial roofless walls, the dovecote, the medieval church and the peaceful river setting creates one of the most atmospheric and most rewarding small heritage visits in the Cotswolds. The hall was built by William Lovell approximately 1440 and confiscated following the attainder of Francis Lovell after Bosworth in 1485. The ruins retain the walls of the great hall, the solar and the various service buildings in a state of preservation that allows the original layout of a fifteenth-century aristocratic residence to be read clearly. The circular medieval dovecote survives with its interior nesting boxes in remarkable completeness and provides the finest single architectural feature of the remains. The village of Minster Lovell below the hall, with its stone cottages on the Windrush and the village pub, provides an excellent visitor base and the combination of the village, the ruins and the Windrush Way walking makes this one of the finest half-day heritage and landscape destinations in Oxfordshire.