News

Cropredy Bridge potential threat

21 February 2008

Land just to the East of the bridge at Cropredy (1644), in what is a Greenfield site opposite the village playing field, has been ear-marked by Banbury & North Cherwell District Council as a possible site for housing, in its recently published Supplemental Consultation. The District Council invited comments on the suitability of this site for housing, the deadline for which was 22nd December 2006. The Battlefields Trust has lodged an official objection to this potential scheme as it would inevitably cause damage to the archaeology of the battlefield, as well as seriously compromising the visual integrity of this key part of the battlefield. The proposal site lies within the registered battlefield, as defined by English Heritage in ‘the Register of Historic Battlefields’ (1995) and provides a visual link between the bridge at Cropredy, with its new Battlefields Trust interpretation panel and the low hills on which stands the village of Wardington, along which the King’s army marched at the start of the battle. There was also fighting over this site at various points of the battle, the details of which could hopefully be confirmed by detailed professional battlefield archaeology.