CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Places & Architecture

St John the Evangelist Church, Banbury

church building in Banbury, Cherwell, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ26299010 ↗
Source-derived summary

St John the Evangelist Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. It was built from 1835 to 1838 in the Gothic Revival style with parts of it designed by Augustus Pugin. It is located on the corner of South Bar Street and Dashwood Road south of the town centre. It is a Grade II listed building.

History

Foundation

After the Reformation, Catholics could go to a chapel in Warkworth Castle to celebrate Mass. It was home to the Holman family and then the Eyre family. In 1806, the castle was demolished and a chapel was built in Overthorpe, Northamptonshire. In 1828, a mission was started in Banbury by the priest at Overthorpe, Abbé Pierre Hersent.

Construction

Abbé Pierre Hersent bought the site of the current church, the old Calthorpe Manor House. He died in 1833, and the church was built by his successors, Fr Joseph Fox and Dr William Tandy.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “St John the Evangelist Church, Banbury” as church building in Banbury, Cherwell, Oxfordshire, England, UK. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around John, Evangelist and Church.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1835, 1838, 1806, 1828—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with John, Evangelist and Church providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “St John the Evangelist Church, Banbury”, the useful work is to connect “church building in Banbury, Cherwell, Oxfordshire, England, UK” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q26299010. Authority coordinates are 52.058, -1.340. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1835, 1838, 1806 and 1828.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “St John the Evangelist Church, Banbury”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow St John the Evangelist Church, Banbury primary sources, St John the Evangelist Church, Banbury archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “St John the Evangelist Church, Banbury”?
  2. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “St John the Evangelist Church, Banbury” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.