The town began in the middle Saxon period with the founding of a village
near the site of the modern priory building. This settlement continued in use
until just after the Norman conquest of England when the new town of Burford
was built. On the site of the old village a hospital was founded which remained
open until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII. The modern
priory building was constructed some 40 years later around 1580.
In 1649, the church was used as a prison (during the Civil War), when the
New Model Army Banbury mutineers were held there. Some of the 340 prisoners
left carvings and
