BROUGHTON, a village and a parish in Banbury district, Oxford. The village stands on an affluent of the river Cherwell, 2½ miles SW by W of Banbury r. station. The parish includes also the township of North Newington; which has a post office under Banbury. Acres, 1,950. Real property, £4,989. Pop., 641. Houses, 137. The property is divided among a few. The manor belonged to the De Broughtons; passed to the Wykehams and the Fiennses; and belongs now to Lord Saye and Sele. Broughton Castle, the mansion of the manor, stands on low ground, engirt by a wide moat, and defended by a tower; comprises structures of the 14th, the 15th, and the 16th centuries, built by respectively the De Vroughtons, the Wykehams, and the Fiennses: shows marks of injuries sustained during the civil wars; includes apartments where the death of Charles I. was decided on, and where Cromwell's officers were quartered before the battle of Edgehill; and contains some interesting pictures, old arms, and curious works of art. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Oxford. Value, £539.* Patron, the Rev.F. Wyatt. The church is of the 14th century, with tower and spire; and contains some very fine monuments. There are an Independent chapel, an endowed school with £50 a year, and charities £180.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))