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{{Short description|Village in Oxfordshire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{{infobox UK place|
|country= England
|coordinates = {{coord|52.116|-1.320|display=inline,title}}
|static_image_name= St Mary's Church from the southeast, Cropredy, Oxfordshire.jpg
|static_image_caption= St Mary the Virgin parish church
|official_name= Cropredy
|area_total_km2=9.42
|population= 717
|population_ref= (Both area and population include the civil parish of Prescote in the [[United Kingdom Census 2011|2011 Census]] for reasons of confidentiality of the latter being officially deemed too small to make up its own Output Area.)
|civil_parish= Cropredy
|shire_district= [[Cherwell (district)|Cherwell]]
|shire_county= [[Oxfordshire]]
|region= South East England
|constituency_westminster= [[Banbury (UK Parliament constituency)|Banbury]]
|post_town= [[Banbury]]
|postcode_district= OX17
|postcode_area= OX   
|dial_code= 01295
|os_grid_reference= SP4646
|london_distance= {{convert|82|mi|km|0}}
}}

'''Cropredy''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|r|ɒ|p|r|ə|d|i}} {{respell|KROP|rə-dee}}) is a village and [[Civil parishes in England|civil parish]] on the [[River Cherwell]], {{convert|4|mi}} north of [[Banbury]] in [[Oxfordshire]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11122474&c=Cropredy&d=16&e=62&g=6458535&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1441267333796&enc=1 |title=Area: Cropredy (Parish): Key Figures for 2011 Census: Key Statistics |work=[[Neighbourhood Statistics]] |publisher=[[Office for National Statistics]] |access-date=3 September 2015}}</ref>

==History==
The village has [[Anglo-Saxon England|Anglo-Saxon]] origins and is recorded in the [[Domesday Book]] of 1086.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} The [[Toponymy|toponym]] comes from the [[Old English]] words ''cropp'' (a hill) and ''ridig'' (a stream).{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

From 1519 onwards [[Brasenose College, Oxford]] owned extensive land in Cropredy. Manor Farm was built in 1693 and Prescote [[Manorialism|Manor]] was built in 1721.{{sfn|Sherwood|Pevsner|1974|p=560}}

[[Cropredy Bridge]] on the River Cherwell was the site of a major [[Battle of Cropredy Bridge|battle]] in 1644 during the [[English Civil War]].{{sfn|Toynbee|Leeming|1938|p=123}} [[Charles I of England|King Charles]] engaged the [[Roundhead|Parliamentarian]] army led by Sir [[William Waller]]. The battle was a [[stalemate]]; the Parliamentarian side suffered heavy casualties but ultimately prevented the King's forces from crossing the bridge. A plaque on the bridge bears the inscription: "The site of the Battle of Cropredy Bridge June 1644 from Civil War Good Lord deliver us."<ref>{{cite web | title=Battle of Cropredy Bridge | url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/59833 }}</ref> Before the battle, some of the church valuables were hidden in the River Cherwell; these included the brass [[eagle lectern]], which was not recovered for 50 years, during which time it was damaged.{{sfn|Walker|1975|p=19}}

==Church and chapels==
The [[Church of England parish church]] of [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Saint Mary the Virgin]] is built of the local [[ironstone]], which is a ferrous [[Jurassic]] limestone. Parts of the south [[Aisle#Architecture|aisle]] date from the 13th century. However, most of the present building is [[Decorated Gothic]] and was built in the 14th century, including the [[chancel]] arch, [[nave]] arcades, east window and most of the windows in the south aisle. In the 15th century [[Perpendicular Gothic]] alterations were made including a [[clerestory]] added above the nave, the north aisle rebuilt with new windows, and both aisles extended eastwards to form side chapels.{{sfn|Sherwood|Pevsner|1974|pp=559–560}}

The church had a clock by 1512, when the vicar, Roger Lupton, left £6 13s 4d in his will in trust for the churchwardens to pay someone to keep the clock running and chiming every quarter-hour and the village curfew.{{sfn|Beeson|1989|p=36}} Lupton's will prescribed that the wardens be fined 6s 8d per month of £10 per year if they were to fail.{{sfn|Beeson|1989|p=36}} A new clock may have been installed around 1700, and Lupton's clock may then have been transferred to [[Claydon, Oxfordshire|Claydon]].{{sfn|Beeson|1989|p=36}} The later clock was itself replaced in 1831 with a new one made by [[John Moore & Sons|John Moore and Sons]] of [[Clerkenwell]], London.{{sfn|Beeson|1989|p=36}}

The [[bell tower]] has a [[Change ringing|ring]] of bells. There were six, but in 2007 two new treble bells increased this to eight.<ref>[http://www.parishes.oxford.anglican.org/bell-ringers/banbury/Cropredy.htm Oxford Diocesan Guild of Church Bell ringers, Banbury Branch] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090822054524/http://www.parishes.oxford.anglican.org/bell-ringers/banbury/Cropredy.htm |date=22 August 2009 }}</ref> One of the new bells is named ''St Mary''; the other ''Fairport Convention Festival Bell''.<ref>{{cite web |title= Cropredy Church Bells |url= http://www.cropredyvillage.info/ChurchBells.htm |work= Cropredy Village |access-date= 5 July 2009 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090608043812/http://www.cropredyvillage.info/ChurchBells.htm |archive-date= 8 June 2009 |df= dmy-all }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Cropredy Convention Archive |url= http://www.fairportconvention.com/cropredy_archive.php?p=2 |work= Fairport Convention's official website |date= 6 February 2007 |access-date= 5 July 2009 |quote= Inscriptions had been set in the moulding: the new treble is named St Mary and inscribed Cropredy Villagers gave me. The second bell is inscribed Fairport Convention Festival Bell to acknowledge Fairport Convention and the festival's association with the village. |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090810212910/http://www.fairportconvention.com/cropredy_archive.php?p=2 |archive-date= 10 August 2009 |df= dmy-all }}</ref>

St Mary's parish is now part of the [[Benefice#Church of England|Benefice]] of Shires' Edge along with those of [[Claydon, Oxfordshire|Claydon]], [[Great Bourton]], [[Mollington, Oxfordshire|Mollington]] and [[Wardington]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice.php?B=27/139CW |title=Benefice of Shire's Edge |author=Archbishops' Council |author-link=Archbishops' Council |work=[[A Church Near You]] |publisher=[[Church of England]] |access-date=5 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005101829/http://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice.php?B=27%2F139CW |archive-date=5 October 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

By the 13th century Cropredy was associated with the legend of [[Saint Fremund]], a [[Mercia]]n who was said to have been martyred in the 9th century.{{sfn|Colvin|Cooper|Cooper|Harvey|1972|pp=157–175}} Fremund's relics are supposed to have been moved from [[Offchurch]] in [[Warwickshire]] to [[Prescote]], where they were lost for a time and then rediscovered and moved to Cropredy.{{sfn|Colvin|Cooper|Cooper|Harvey|1972|pp=157–175}} They were then moved to the [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] [[Dunstable Priory|Priory at Dunstable]], probably in 1207,{{sfn|Colvin|Cooper|Cooper|Harvey|1972|pp=157–175}} but an association with Fremund remained at Cropredy. There are records of gifts to a chapel and [[shrine]] to the saint here in 1488 and 1539, and a [[chantry]] priest serving in St. Fremund's chapel in 1489.{{sfn|Colvin|Cooper|Cooper|Harvey|1972|pp=157–175}} During the [[English Reformation]] under [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]] [[the Crown]] sold the chapel and its contents in 1549 and it was probably demolished.{{sfn|Colvin|Cooper|Cooper|Harvey|1972|pp=157–175}} No trace remains, its site is unknown{{sfn|Colvin|Cooper|Cooper|Harvey|1972|pp=157–175}} and it is not clear whether the shrine chapel was at St. Mary's church or elsewhere in the parish.

A [[Methodist Church of Great Britain|Methodist]] chapel had been built by 1822. The congregation outgrew it so a [[Cropredy Methodist Church|larger chapel]] was built on a new site in 1881.{{sfn|Colvin|Cooper|Cooper|Harvey|1972|pp=157–175}}

==Transport==
[[File:The Oxford Canal & the Bridge Store, Cropredy.jpg|thumb|upright|The Oxford Canal at Cropredy]]
Building of the [[Oxford Canal]] began at [[Hawkesbury Junction]] on the [[Coventry Canal]] in 1769 and reached Cropredy in October 1777. The canal passes between the River Cherwell and the village. There is a [[canal lock]] here, and at the south end of the village a wharf was built. This originally handled coal from the [[Coventry]] coalfield, and now serves the canal's popular leisure traffic. The wharf was briefly the canal's terminus, until the section from Cropredy to Banbury opened in March 1778.{{sfn|Compton|1976|p=25}} The canal finally reached [[Oxford]] and the [[River Thames]] at the end of 1789.{{sfn|Compton|1976|p=39}}

The [[Oxford and Rugby Railway]] had been built from {{rws|Oxford}} northwards past Cropredy by 1852. It never reached {{rws|Rugby}}, but at {{rws|Fenny Compton}} it met the [[Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway]] and thus became part of an important north–south main line. The [[Great Western Railway]] took over the O&RR before it was completed, and opened [[Cropredy railway station]] to serve the village. [[British Rail]]ways closed the station in 1956, but the railway remains open as part of the [[Chiltern Main Line]].

Cropredy's public transport is bus route 503 between Banbury and Long Itchington in Warwickshire, operated by Catteralls Coaches with one bus each way a week on Thursdays only <ref>{{cite web |url= https://static1.squarespace.com/static/55b72d9ce4b07c169ff7994d/t/5755687f7da24f36448bd632/1465215105966/503.pdf |title=Mats Current Timetables.xlsx - 503.pdf  |access-date=30 December 2016}}</ref> and route 502, operated by Stagecoach, between Temple Herdewyke and Banbury with one bus each way a week on Saturdays and Good Friday.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://tis-kml-stagecoach.s3.amazonaws.com/PdfTimetables/XLBO502.pdf |title=XLBO502.pdf |access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref>

==Education==
A [[National school (England and Wales)|National School]], Cropredy and [[Bourton, Cherwell|Bourton]] School, was opened in Cropredy in 1855. In 1867 it was renamed simply Cropredy School and a second classroom was added. In 1947 it was reorganised as a junior and infant school.{{sfn|Colvin|Cooper|Cooper|Harvey|1972|pp=157–175}} Today it is a [[Voluntary controlled school|Church of England]] [[Primary school#United Kingdom|primary school]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cropredy.oxon.sch.uk/ |title=Cropredy C.E. Primary School |access-date=22 May 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070209053818/http://www.cropredy.oxon.sch.uk/ |archive-date=9 February 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Amenities==
Cropredy has two public houses: the 17th century Brasenose Arms<ref>[http://www.brasenosearms.com/ The Brasenose Arms]</ref> and the Red Lion.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Red Lion - your local pub in, Banbury|url=https://redlioncropredypub.co.uk/|access-date=2021-04-16|website=The Red Lion - your local pub in, Banbury }}</ref> The village has a [[General practitioner#United Kingdom|GP]]'s practice and several shops.

==Annual music festival==
[[File:FairportsCropredyConventionStageView.jpg|thumb|The stage at [[Fairport's Cropredy Convention]] annual festival, August 2009]]
{{main|Fairport's Cropredy Convention}}
On farmland east of the village [[British folk rock]] band [[Fairport Convention]] stages an annual three-day music festival titled [[Fairport's Cropredy Convention]]. The festival has expanded from a one-day event first held in 1980 (although the band had played fundraisers in the village since 1976).<ref>[http://www.fairportconvention.com/cropredy.php Fairport's Cropredy Convention website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509063700/http://www.fairportconvention.com/cropredy.php |date=9 May 2008 }}</ref>{{sfn|Redwood|Woodward|1995|p=76}}

==See also==
*"[[Banburyshire]]"
*[[History of Banbury]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |last=Beeson |first=C.F.C. |author-link=Cyril Beeson |editor-last=Simcock |editor-first=A.V. |year=1989 |orig-year=1962 |edition=3rd |title=Clockmaking in Oxfordshire 1400–1850 |place=Oxford |publisher=[[Museum of the History of Science, Oxford|Museum of the History of Science]] |isbn=0-903364-06-9 |page=20 }}
*{{cite book |last=Compton |first=Hugh J. |title=The Oxford Canal |year=1976 |place=Newton Abbot |publisher=[[David & Charles]] |isbn=0-7153-7238-6 }}
*{{cite book |editor-last=Crossley |editor-first=Alan |last1=Colvin |first1=Christina |last2=Cooper |first2=Janet |last3=Cooper |first3=N.H. |last4=Harvey |first4=P.D.A. |last5=Hollings |first5=Marjory |last6=Hook |first6=Judith |last7=Jessup |first7=Mary |last8=Lobel |first8=Mary D. |author8-link=Mary Lobel |last9=Mason |first9=J.F.A. |last10=Trinder |first10=B.S. |last11=Turner |first11=Hilary |year=1972 |title=A History of the County of Oxford |volume=10: Banbury Hundred |series=[[Victoria County History]] |place=London |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] for the [[Institute of Historical Research]] |isbn=978-0-19722-728-2 |pages=157–175 |url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63799 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Redwood |first1=Fred |last2=Woodward |first2=Martin |title=The Woodworm Era: The story of today's Fairport Convention |place=Thatcham |publisher=Jeneva |year=1995 |isbn=0-9525860-0-2 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Sherwood |first1=Jennifer |last2= Pevsner |first2=Nikolaus |author-link2=Nikolaus Pevsner |year=1974 |title=Oxfordshire |series=[[The Buildings of England]] |place=Harmondsworth |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=0-14-071045-0 |pages=559–560 }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Toynbee |first1=MR |last2=Leeming |first2=JJ |author-link2=J. J. Leeming |year=1938 |title=Cropredy Bridge |journal=Oxoniensia |publisher=[[Oxfordshire Architectural and Historical Society|Oxford Architectural and Historical Society]] |volume=III |pages=123–138 |url= http://oxoniensia.org/volumes/1938/toynbee.pdf }}
*{{cite book |last=Walker |first=George Graham |year=1975 |title=Churches of the Banbury Area |place=Kineton |publisher=Roundwood Press |isbn=0-900093-52-8 }}

==External links==
* [http://in360degrees.co.uk/oxfordshirechurches/data/0026StMarysCropredy/ 360° Panorama of Church interiors]
{{Commons category-inline|Cropredy}}

{{Cherwell}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Civil parishes in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:Villages in Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:Cherwell District]]