PARK LANE
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Historically, and more appropriately, DARK LANE, is an old sunken lane circling the west and south sides of the Castle Mound. On the village green, under two large purple beech trees stand the village stocks. These used to be situated off Church Street, near the lych gate, until the land was incorporated into the churchyard. They were then dismantled and lay in the wheelwright's shop for some time until eventually they were refurbished and re-erected in their present position. The ironwork is the original Elizabethan.

The Stocks on the Village Green

Left

Castle Hill House was previously two cottages with thatched roofs, of a mixture of random rubble and coursed limestone, with some brownstone. They were combined into a single dwelling in 1974, with a new roof of imitation stone and modern casement windows. The chimneys are of stone. Inside, there are fine oak beams.

Grafton House was built in 1989 of reconstructed stone, with tiled roof and timber casement windows. Bower House (1976) and Saxon House (1975) are of reconstructed limestone, with stone dressings, mullions, heads and label courses, and roofs covered in grey tiles. Bower House has squared pitch-pine windows recovered from Banbury Workhouse, and the oak staircase was recovered from Marston St Lawrence Manor House. Saxon House has steel casements.

Westfields, on the corner of Church Street, used to be a pair of 19th century brick cottages, converted to a single house in the 1960s. It has a slate roof, timber casement windows, and the walls are rendered. The Cottage, beyond, is a 17th or 18th century house of random rubble. It was completely modernised in the early 1980s. The roof is tiled, the chimneys are of brick, and the windows are of the modern casement type.

Old photo here?

Right

The Old Stocks, is a late 18th or early 19th century house, mainly of coursed and chopped limestone, with some random rubble and some ashlar. Previously thatched, the roof is now of blue slates. The raised gables have copings, kneelers and corbels, and the chimneys are of blue brick on stone bases. The windows are of casement type. To the rear is a flat-roofed extension in red brick, finished in cement wash.

The Old Stocks

Barton Cottage, dating from 1952, is of brick with pebble-dash finish and a tiled roof. It has casement windows, timber-framed. Park Lane Cottage was built in 1984 of Bradstone artificial stone. It, too, has a tiled roof and timber casement windows.

Wemyss Farmhouse is a 17th century farmhouse, with some 18th century work, of random rubble limestone. The thatch has been replaced by tiles. The window openings are original, with purpose-made timber casements; there are brick chimneys.

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