Welcome to West Adderbury
We are a village of around 700 residents located three miles south of the historic market town of Banbury. The parish of Adderbury currently consists of West Adderbury, East Adderbury and the newer development of Twyford, although up until 1971 West and East Adderbury had their own respective parish councils.
As shown in the 1913 map below, West and East Adderbury form two distinct settlements, divided by the Sor Brook, which enters the area from the north and eventually joins with the River Cherwell. While East Adderbury has a relatively dense core, centred on the High Street and Village Green, West Adderbury has always been more open and spread out, with clusters of houses around Cross Hill Road, Manor Road and Horn Hill Road/Tanners Lane.
In “A History of the County of Oxford”, published in 1969, West Adderbury is described as follows: “Adderbury West straggles up the hill from the Sor Brook to the main Bloxham–Deddington road. Except for the 20th-century bungalows, which lie apart from the old village, and the disused Independent chapel, erected in 1829, it is built almost entirely of the local stone and in the regional style. Here also grass verges, climbing fruit trees on the house walls, small unwalled flower gardens, and a green planted with chestnuts, set off the excellence of the buildings”.
There is archaeological evidence of an important Neolithic settlement in West Adderbury, relatively large for the time period, and historical evidence of Roman and Anglo-Saxon populations. Despite the beginning as a large settlement, for most of its history, West Addebury seems to have been the smaller neighbour of East Adderbury. Tucked away as it is from the main route from Oxford to the Midlands, it is easy to imagine how West Adderbury managed to keep its distinctly rural nature in the face of rapid growth elsewhere.
Between 1881 and 1961, the population of West Adderbury grew very slowly, from 313 to 534, with the bulk of the increase coming in the 1950s following the construction of new homes on St Mary’s Road and Norris Close. Additional housing was subsequently built along Berry Hill Road. After the recent construction of housing developments at Adderbury Fields and Henge Close, the population of West Adderbury now stands at over 700.
Despite the recent growth in population, West Adderbury remains a much quieter and more rural village than its two neighbours and retains its historic geographical separation from East Adderbury and Twyford, as shown in the map below. We have our own residents’ association – WARA – which seeks to ensure that we in West Adderbury have our own voice.
