Red Horse of Tysoe

Edge Hill is an escarpment and Edgehill a hamlet in the civil parish of Ratley and Upton, Stratford-on-Avon District, southern Warwickshire, England. At Ratley, the escarpment rises to 219 m (719 ft) above sea level and 112 m (367 ft) above nearby Radway, within 300 metres of the Warwickshire border with Oxfordshire.Edge Hill gave its name to the first battle of the English Civil War, in which it was a prominent feature. The hamlet has a public house, an eccentric building of local Hornton Stone called the Castle Inn that was built in the 1740s to the designs of Sanderson Miller (1716–80). It is controlled by the Hook Norton Brewery.

Tysoe is a civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District of Warwickshire, England. The parish is on the boundary with Oxfordshire, about 7+1⁄2 miles (12 km) northwest of Banbury. The parish includes the contiguous villages of Middle and Upper Tysoe and the separate hamlet of Lower Tysoe. The 2011 census recorded the parish population as 1,143.

Upton House is a country house in the civil parish of Ratley and Upton, in the English county of Warwickshire, about 7 miles (11 km) northwest of Banbury, Oxfordshire. It is in the care of the National Trust.

Shenington is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Shenington with Alkerton, in the Cherwell district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is about 5 miles (8 km) west of Banbury, it was an exclave of Gloucestershire until the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 transferred it to Oxfordshire. Shenington is on Oxfordshire's boundary with Warwickshire. Shenington was an ancient parish of 1,628 acres (659 ha). In 1961 the parish had a population of 232. On 1 April 1970 the parish was abolished and merged with Alkerton to form "Shenington with Alkerton".

Alkerton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Shenington with Alkerton, in the Cherwell district, in the county of Oxfordshire, England. It is on the county boundary with Warwickshire, about 5 miles (8 km) west of Banbury. In 1961 the parish had a population of 82. On 1 April 1970 the parish was abolished and merged with Shenington to form "Shenington with Alkerton".

Shenington with Alkerton is a civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. It comprises the village of Shenington, which was an exclave of Gloucestershire until the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 transferred it to Oxfordshire (grid reference SP370425) and the village of Alkerton, which was always part of Oxfordshire (grid reference SP375425). It covers 9.60 km2 and as at the 2011 census had a population of 425 people.

Epwell is a village and civil parish in the north of Oxfordshire about 6 miles (10 km) west of Banbury. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population's as 285. Epwell's toponym is believed to be derived from the Old English Eoppa's Well.

Compton Wynyates is a Tudor country house in Warwickshire, England, a Grade I listed building. The Tudor period house is constructed of red brick and built around a central courtyard. It is castellated and turreted in parts. Following action in the Civil War, half timbered gables were added to replace damaged parts of the building. The Compton family, who still live today in this private house, appear in records as resident on the site as early as 1204. The family continued to live in the manor house as knights and squires of the county until Sir Edmund Compton (who died c. 1493) decided, c. 1481, to build a new family home.

Ratley is a village in the civil parish of Ratley and Upton, Stratford-on-Avon District, Warwickshire, England. The population of the civil parish in 2011 was 327. It is on the northwest side of the Edge Hill escarpment about 200 metres (660 ft) above sea level. The village is close to the county border with north Oxfordshire, some 7 miles northwest of Banbury, the closest town.

Compton Wynyates or Compton Wyniates is an ancient parish and civil parish in Stratford-on-Avon District, Warwickshire, England. It includes the house and grounds of Compton Wynyates, and extends to the north-east and south-west of the house, with a size of roughly 3.5 by 0.5 miles (6 km × 0.8 km). The parish has an area of 1,038 acres (420 ha). Compton Wynyates was also a village; the earthworks of the village partly survive. It does not have a parish council but has a parish meeting. Population figures for the 2011 census are not available for this parish. Population figures from 1801 to 1961 ranged between 15 and 48, with a figure of 23 in 1961. The civil parish was within Brailes Rural District from 1894 to 1931 and within Shipston-on-Stour Rural District from 1931 to 1974.

The Vale of Red Horse, also called the Vale of the Red Horse or Red Horse Vale, is a rural district in southern Warwickshire, England, lying between the escarpment of Edgehill and the northern Cotswolds around the valley of the Stour. Early gazetteers noted the Vale as a rich corn-growing area, and it is still relatively sparsely populated: its main settlements are Kineton and Shipston-on-Stour. The Fosse Way runs through the area and the Battle of Edgehill was fought on its fringes in October 1642. The 17th century Warwickshire poet Michael Drayton devoted a long section of his topographical poem Poly-Olbion to what he called the "Vale of Red-horse", noting it was in length "near thirty miles" and deploring its obscurity compared to the better-known Vales of White Horse and Aylesbury. The Vale takes its name from the Red Horse of Tysoe, a hill figure once cut into the red clay near the village of Tysoe. The Red Horse was first recorded in 1607, and in its earliest form was nearly 100 yards long. Various dates have been suggested for the figure's creation, ranging from the Anglo-Saxon period to the 15th century. It was lost by the First World War. The Vale of Red Horse has given its name to an electoral ward of Stratford-upon-Avon and an electoral division of Warwickshire. The modern ward boundaries, which include the villages of Tysoe, Oxhill, Whatcote, Pillerton Priors, Pillerton Hersey and Butlers Marston are smaller than the historic area of the Vale, which was considered to include all the low-lying ground separating the north Cotswolds from Edgehill.

Shutford is a village and civil parish about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) west of Banbury in Oxfordshire. The village is about 475 feet (145 m) above sea level. In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Shutford like this: "SHUTFORD, a chapelry in Swalcliffe parish, Oxford; 5 miles W of Banbury r. station. It has a postal pillar-box under Banbury. Acres, 640. Real property, £2,840. Pop., 386. Houses, 98. The living is annexed to Swalcliffe. The church was repaired in 1841. There are chapels for Wesleyans and Primitive Methodists."The name Shutford is derived from Scytta's Ford. In the fourteenth century the village was quite large. 20 people were assessed for tax in 1327. In 1377 there were 86. A fire in 1701 destroyed 24 houses. Some houses were rebuilt and modernised. In 1774 71 houses were recorded. In the Middle Ages there were 3 manors in Shutford. The manor house appears to have been built in the 16th century. In the Civil War, Viscount Saye and Sele supported the Parliamentarians. Plush and shag weaving was established in 1747 and became the village's main claim to fame.