Aynho

"AYNHO, a parish in the hundred of King's Sutton, in the county of Northampton, 6 miles to the S.W. of Brackley, and the same distance to the S.E. of Banbury, its post town. It is a station on the Oxford and Birmingham branch of the Great Western railway. It is situated at the southern extremity of the county on the edge of Oxfordshire, on an eminence near the east bank of the river Cherwell. The Oxford canal passes near the village. Aynho was formerly a market town. In the reign of Henry II. a hospital was founded here by Roger Fitz-Richard and his son, which was given in 1484 to Magdalen College, Oxford. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Hereford, of the value of £500, in the patronage of W. R. Cartwright, Esq. The church, which has monuments of the Cartwrights, is dedicated to St. Michael. Almshouses for six persons were established and endowed in 1816 by John Baker; their revenue is £161 per annum. The free school, founded by the Cartwrights is endowed with £20 a year. Sir Ralph Winwood, a statesman of the 17th century, and Shakerly Marmion, a poet of the rein of James I., were natives of Aynho. Aynho Park is the seat of the Cartwrights, and contains a valuable collection of pictures."[From The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868). Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]