A place in the world
Chipping Norton
Chipping Norton is a working market town before it is anything pretty, the highest in Oxfordshire, and the locals call it Chippy and leave it at that. Here is what is worth doing in Chipping Norton, when to come, and the money behind the drystone walls that would rather not be discussed.
At a glance
- Where
- Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, the highest town in the county at around seven hundred feet. About eighteen miles north west of Oxford, near the Gloucestershire border.
- Best time to visit
- Any time; it is a working town, not a honeypot. The theatre's winter pantomime is its own draw.
- How long to spend
- A half-day for the town. A full day with the Rollright Stones and Chastleton House.
- Parking
- Long-stay council car parks on New Street and Albion Street, both open all week, with thirty minutes free on-street in the centre.
- Getting there
- Nearest station Kingham, about four miles off, direct from London Paddington in around ninety minutes, then a taxi. By car, on the A44 and A361, and buses run to Oxford, Banbury and beyond.
- Dog friendly
- Yes. The town and the open country around it, including the Rollright Stones, take dogs.
- Family friendly
- Yes. The theatre runs a well-loved pantomime, and the Rollright Stones and Chastleton suit a family afternoon.
Things to do in Chipping Norton
Bliss Tweed Mill
The landmark you see first, coming in from the west: a tweed mill of 1872 by the Lancashire mill architect George Woodhouse, built like an Italianate country house with a great domed chimney rising through a tower. It made cloth until 1980 and is private apartments now, so the view is from outside, but what a view it is.
St Mary's Church
A large wool church off the Market Place, its nave rebuilt around 1485 on the profits of the trade, with a tall, glass-filled fifteenth-century clerestory and a Norman chancel arch surviving from the older church beneath.
The Market Place and Town Hall
The Chipping in the name is the old word for a market, and a market is what built the town. The neoclassical Town Hall of 1842 presides over the square, which still holds a market and the ordinary business of a working town.
The Theatre Chipping Norton
A small, much-loved theatre in a Victorian building that began life as a Salvation Army citadel and was opened as a theatre in the 1970s by two actors. It punches well above the town's size, and its Christmas pantomime is a fixture for miles around.
The Rollright Stones
Three miles north, on the county boundary, a complex of prehistoric monuments: the King's Men, a Bronze Age stone circle of some seventy-seven weathered stones; the Whispering Knights, an older burial chamber; and the lone King Stone across the lane. Older than almost anything else in the county, and quietly atmospheric.
Chastleton House
A few miles off, one of the finest Jacobean houses in England, built between 1607 and 1612 and barely altered since, kept by the National Trust in a deliberately unrestored state. The modern rules of croquet were drawn up on its lawn.
Visiting Chipping Norton: parking, getting there, when to go
Chipping Norton stands on the high ground where the A44 and A361 cross, a real market town getting on with its week rather than a film set. The centre is walkable, with the Market Place and the church at its core and Bliss Mill on the western edge.
Parking is straightforward. There are long-stay council car parks on New Street and Albion Street, open every day, with thirty minutes free on-street on the High Street and Market Street.
The town lost its own railway station long ago. The nearest now is Kingham, about four miles off, on the Cotswold Line, with direct trains from London Paddington in around ninety minutes and a taxi for the last stretch. Buses run to Oxford, Banbury, Stratford and Witney.
There is little seasonal to plan around, beyond the theatre's pantomime in winter and the Rollright Stones, which are open in daylight for a small honesty-box charge.
Where to eat, drink & stay
The Chequers, off the Market Place, is the locals' real-ale pub, a medieval building pouring a row of Fuller's ales.
The Blue Boar, at the top of the High Street, is the other established local, a former coaching inn of 1641, dog-friendly and good for a plate.
The Crown and Cushion, a fifteenth-century coaching inn on the High Street, is the town's hotel, with rooms, a bar and a bistro, and once, oddly, a drummer from The Who for an owner.
Chipping Norton questions, answered
- What is Chipping Norton famous for?
- Being the highest town in Oxfordshire, its medieval market and wool-trade heritage, the landmark domed Bliss Tweed Mill, its theatre, and the prehistoric Rollright Stones just to the north. In recent years it also lent its name to a well-connected media and political set.
- What is Bliss Mill?
- The former Bliss Tweed Mill on the edge of town, a striking Italianate woollen mill of 1872 with a domed chimney, designed by George Woodhouse. It made cloth until 1980 and has been private apartments since, so it is admired from outside.
- What are the Rollright Stones?
- A group of three prehistoric monuments about three miles north of the town: the King's Men stone circle, the Whispering Knights burial chamber, and the single King Stone. They are open in daylight for a small charge, traditionally an honesty box.
- Is Chipping Norton worth visiting?
- Yes, if you want a real Cotswold town rather than a postcard one. It has a fine wool church, the Bliss Mill landmark, a good theatre and the Rollright Stones close by, and it is far less crowded than the show villages.
That is the north Oxfordshire Cotswolds in a sentence: real towns getting on with their week, and behind the drystone walls, a good deal of money that would rather not be discussed.
Chippy knows the difference and keeps it.
The story moves through this world. Begin Chapter One →