Attractions and Places To See around Ascott-Under-Wychwood - Top 20
Attractions and places to see around Ascott-Under-Wychwood offer a blend of historical landmarks and natural features within the Evenlode Valley and the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The village provides access to the rural Oxfordshire landscape, characterized by the River Evenlode and remnants of the ancient Wychwood Forest. Visitors can explore historical sites, cultural points of interest, and natural areas. The region is suitable for those interested in English heritage and outdoor exploration.
Best attractions and places to see around Ascott-Under-Wychwood
- The most popular attractions is Burford Town Centre, a historical site that features independent shops, tearooms, and pubs. This medieval town is known as a gateway to the Cotswolds.
- Another must-see spot is Minster Lovell Hall Ruins, a historical site. These are the ruins of a 15th-century manor house, built around 1440 by William Lovell, situated by the River Windrush.
- Visitors also love Church of St Lawrence, Wick Rissington, a religious building. Architectural evidence indicates the presence of a church here by the 12th century, with parts rebuilt in the mid-13th century.
- Ascott-Under-Wychwood is known for its historical sites, natural features, and cultural points of interest. Visitors can explore ancient earthworks, medieval churches, and scenic river valleys.
- The attractions around Ascott-Under-Wychwood are appreciated by the komoot community, with more than 30 upvotes and over 60 photos shared across various highlights.
Last updated: May 4, 2026
Minster Lovell Hall Ruins
Highlight • Historical Site
Minster Lovell Hall was built by William Lovell around 1440. As Minster Lovell was one of the earliest estates held by the Lovell family and one of their main residences it was at least the second building occupying this site.
In 1747 large parts of the buildings were dismantled. By the early nineteenth century, the ruins of Minster Lovell Hall were thought to have been the buildings of an alien priory.
Legend
According to one report, a skeleton was discovered in the basement of Minster Lovell Hall in 1718 and was thought to be that of Francis Lovell who had hidden there after the Battle of Stoke and had died of starvation. Unfortunately, it seems unlikely this is the case. Francis Lovell spent little time in Minster Lovell and therefore would have no faithful servant there who could hide and feed him for years.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minster_Lovell_Hall
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Church of St Lawrence, Wick Rissington
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The right of presentation to the rectory was exercised by the lords of Little Rissington manor up to 1529. After that manor had passed in 1540 to the Crown, however, the advowson was not alienated with it, and successive rectors were presented by the Crown and the Lord Chancellor until c. 1870. Then the new owner of Wick Rissington manor acquired the advowson, which descended with the manor until c. 1935 when it passed to the Diocesan Board of Patronage.
The living was valued at £4 6s. 8d. a year in 1291, and at £16 2s. 6d. clear in 1535. In 1650 it was valued at £80, and the increase was perhaps due in part to the enlargement of the glebe from 13 a. in 1535 to three yardlands at the end of the 16th century. The total value had risen to c. £150 a dozen years after inclosure under the Act of 1729, as a result of which the endowment of the living included 76 a. of land and rent-charges of £84. The value of the living rose to over £200 in the mid-19th century.
In 1301, during the minority of an heir to the advowson, the Crown presented Adam de Brome, a royal clerk and one of the founders of Oriel College, Oxford. The next two rectors were both licensed to be absent. Adam of Witchford, rector 1323–34, served as chaplain to his patron, Aline Burnell. It may have been the non-residence of successive rectors that stimulated Thomas le Spencer to grant land, in 1331, for the support of a chaplain. This chantry, called Our Lady's service, survived in 1547 when its income was 36s. 6d.; there was then, however, no chaplain. In the early 15th century there were frequent changes of rector, but from 1436 to 1474 the rector was John Wakefield, who may have made some of the alterations in the church though clearly he was not, as has been stated, responsible for its building.
The rector instituted in 1529 put the living to farm, and left the parish in the care of a curate. His successor, Henry Bassingbourne, had been Prior of Woodbridge (Suff.) and in 1548 was said to have allowed the parsonage to decay, to have celebrated neither mass nor matins for a fortnight, and to pass his time in an ale-house in Bourton-on-the-Water; in 1551 he was enjoined to correct himself and to preach more often. The next rector was deprived in 1553 for marrying; four of the next five after him were pluralists, and two at least were non-resident. The succession of not wholly satisfactory rectors culminated with Robert Knollys, rector 1614–41, who also held the livings of Hampnett and Bibury, and against whom his parishioners of Wick Rissington alleged that he had neither read prayers nor prayed in their church for five years, employed the cheapest curates he could get, and was thus responsible for the lack of services, sermons, and spiritual consolation for the dying. In the late 17th century and for most of the 18th and early 19th pluralist or absentee rectors appointed curates for the parish. The last but one of such curates was William John Deane (1823–95), the theological writer, and the last nonresident rector was George Leigh Cooke (d. 1853), Sedleian professor of natural philosophy at Oxford. From 1853 the rectors were normally resident, but unlike most other parishes Wick Rissington had no rector that remained more than 20 years. From the Second World War the livings of Wick Rissington and Little Rissington were held jointly, as they were in 1962, though there was no formal union of the parishes or the benefices.
The church of ST. LAWRENCE is built of ashlar and rubble with a Cotswold stone roof, and comprises chancel, nave, north aisle, north porch, and west tower. The church is remarkable for its 13th century work, which survives with little change in the chancel and tower. Traces of a corbel-table in the north and south walls of the nave and the massiveness of the walls of the tower (nine feet thick at the bottom) indicate the 12th-century origin of the fabric. The chancel and tower were rebuilt in the mid-13th century. Later changes in the building, apart from minor changes in the chancel, cannot be traced until the 19th century. The church was described c. 1700 as 'one entire aisle', which suggests that the nave and chancel roofs were continuous. The church, said to be in excellent repair in 1828, was enlarged in 1822, when proprietary north and south transepts were added, and in 1836. The work in 1836 may have included the blocking of the 12th century north doorway, the removal of mullions and tracery from the south windows of the nave, and the further lowering of the nave roof, for up to 1879 it was lower than that of the chancel, which had a western corbie-gable. The church was extensively altered in 1879, under the direction of J. E. K. Cutts. The transepts were removed; the nave was thoroughly restored, its roof-line being raised to the steep pitch of an earlier roof marked on the east wall of the tower; the north aisle was built, with a lean-to roof; a new north doorway was opened; and a porch was added, with a door to the aisle through a re-used 12th-century arch that was the original north doorway.
The chancel is lit by two pairs of tall lancets in the east wall and by two windows in each of the north and south walls. The north windows are lancets in deeply splayed openings; the south windows were originally similar, but have been replaced by a 14th- and a 15th-century window, each of two lights with tracery. Both internally and externally the windows, together with a small south doorway, are drawn into a coherent design by continuous string-courses, which are somewhat interrupted by the new work to the windows on the south. The treatment of the east end is particularly elaborate. Pairs of small buttresses ornament rather than support the angles, each pair of lancets is surmounted by a concave lozenge-shaped light, and near the apex of the gable is a plain lozenge-shaped light, once filled with masonry; the upper and lower string-courses are carried round these various features. Internally the upper string-course forms a sort of arcading, and the lower is connected with two piscina niches (one trefoil-headed with rich moulding and a scalloped bowl), two aumbries, and four other recesses, of which one contains a rectangular stone tank with drain. Below, stone benching survives along the south and much of the north wall. The chancel has a medieval trussed rafter roof; in the windows are a few fragments of 14th-century coloured glass.
The tower is of four stages separated by stringcourses; the western angles have buttresses to the two lower stages similar in style to those of the chancel. To the first stage there is an external west door, to the second a tall single-light west window with a stringcourse around the arch and extending across the west face of the tower. The third and fourth stages are each stepped back; on each face of both, except the east face of the third stage, is a single louvred light. The parapet is pierced by trefoil openings, and the angle pinnacles repeat the style of the buttresses.
The tub-shaped font of c. 1200 was for many years buried in the churchyard. In the chancel are 12 carved wooden plaques, found c. 1890 at Wick Hill, depicting scenes from the life of Christ; they are thought to be Flemish, and of the 16th century. The altar-table stands on a stone slab that was once the top of a medieval altar and was subsequently used as a memorial floor-slab; part of a carved and coped stone coffin lid is reset in the porch. In the tower are four bells: there were four c. 1700 and in 1828, but in 1844 only three were recast; a fourth was added in 1888. The plate includes a chalice, paten, and flagon of the 18th century. The organ bears an inscription recording that Gustav Holst (d. 1934) played on it as parish organist in 1892 and 1893. The registers begin in 1739.
In or before the 17th century land that produced £2 a year c. 1700 was given for the repair of the church. The land, known as Clerk's mead, was just under 3 a. and produced £7 a year in 1828, and £8 10s. a year in 1962.
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Shilton War Memorial
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The Swan Inn
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Burford Town Centre
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Tips from the Community
The patron saint of this church, dedicated to Saint Lawrence: He is one of the early Roman martyrs from a time when Christianity was still strictly forbidden. He was archdeacon to Pope Sixtus II and, after the latter's execution, was ordered by the pagan Emperor Valerian to hand over the Church's treasure. Lawrence asked for three days to do so, distributed the Church's wealth among the poor inhabitants of Rome, and after the agreed time, returned with the poor to the emperor to present them as the Church's treasure. He was then martyred; legend says he was roasted alive on a gridiron—an attribute seen in many depictions of Saint Lawrence—over coals. He is said to have been cheerful during this ordeal and asked his executioner if he would turn him over. Saint Lawrence's feast day in the liturgical calendar is August 10, the traditional date of his execution in the year 258 AD.
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Can get busy with traffic but lots of side roads and walking pathetic to explore
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It's beautiful in a overrun-with-tourists kinda way, but the Deli here is excellent for coffee, food and expensive Italian ingredients that you don't need on a bike ride, but want.
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This is amazing love place. I love to go this kind of place. https://www.health-insurancemarket.com
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As a memorial to the many dead, such memorials - usually called "war memorials" in English - are still very important today. "Now, Lord, you let your servant depart in peace, as you have said..." says the so-called "Hymn of Simeon" (Luke's Gospel, Chapter 2, Verse 29). However, the people commemorated here did not depart in peace, but became victims of war and tyranny. This is why the term "dead soldiers' memorial" is now sometimes used in German instead of the previously most common "war memorial". However, such a war memorial, which one encounters so often on the road, regardless of nationality, language and name, is always a testimony - still significant and current today - to the horror of war and tyranny. They all have two essential functions, and this for each generation anew: -1- Commemorate and remember the victims -2- Remind people to keep the peace
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There is parking for about six or seven cars. The pub itself is lovely. Ole worlde with exposed wooden beams and two big open fires. The food is very good and there is a large beer garden with it's own bar and resident bantams roaming around 😁 I was there on a Sunday evening and it was very busy with diners. If you are going there to eat I would recommend booking in advance. Well worth a visit.
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There is parking for about six or seven cars. The pub itself is lovely. Ole worlde with exposed wooden beams and two big open fires. The food is very good and there is a large beer garden with it's own bar and resident bantams roaming around 😁 I was there on a Sunday evening and it was very busy with diners. If you are going there to eat I would recommend booking in advance. Well worth a visit.
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There is some parking available at The Swan Inn pub, make sure to pop in for a refreshing drink or some delicious food.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What historical sites can I explore in and around Ascott-Under-Wychwood?
Ascott-Under-Wychwood and its surroundings are rich in history. You can visit the earthwork remains of two 12th-century motte and bailey castles, Ascott d'Oyley and Ascott Earl, though their shapes are best observed from public footpaths. The 12th-century Holy Trinity Church is another significant architectural site. Further afield, explore the picturesque ruins of Minster Lovell Hall Ruins, a 15th-century manor house, or the ancient Church of St Lawrence, Wick Rissington, with parts dating back to the 12th century.
Are there any natural features or reserves to visit near Ascott-Under-Wychwood?
Yes, the village is situated on the south side of the scenic River Evenlode, offering pleasant riverside paths. The ancient Wychwood Forest, now a Site of Special Scientific Interest, contributes to the area's character with scattered tree clumps. Nearby, Foxholes Nature Reserve provides tranquil woodland walks with rich flora and fauna. You can also find a magnificent old oak tree, estimated to be over 500 years old, within Ascott-Under-Wychwood itself.
What family-friendly attractions are available in the area?
For families, the area offers several engaging options. The historical sites like Minster Lovell Hall Ruins and Burford Town Centre are suitable for all ages. Burford, known for its medieval charm, has independent shops and tearooms. For more active fun, consider attractions a short drive away like Fairytale Farm near Chipping Norton or the Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens near Burford, which features a diverse collection of animals.
Where can I find places to eat or drink in Ascott-Under-Wychwood?
The village has the community-run Ascott Village Shop on the High Street, offering local produce. For a traditional pub experience, The Swan (The Swan Inn) is a popular choice, known for its food and atmosphere, and it also offers parking.
Are there walking or hiking routes near Ascott-Under-Wychwood?
Absolutely. Ascott-Under-Wychwood is an excellent base for walks. You can find easy hikes like the "Ascott-under-Wychwood Village – Swan Inn loop" or the "Ascott Village Shop & Café loop." For moderate options, consider routes such as "Shipton-under-Wychwood to Foxholes Nature Reserve" or the longer "Ascott-under-Wychwood Village – Swan Inn loop." Explore more options on the Hiking around Ascott-Under-Wychwood guide.
What cycling routes are available around Ascott-Under-Wychwood?
Cyclists can enjoy a variety of routes in the picturesque Evenlode Valley. Options range from moderate to difficult, including loops like "Charlbury Village loop from Shipton" (32.2 km) or the more challenging "Moreton-in-Marsh — Market town – Kingham Village loop from Shipton" (48.2 km). Discover more detailed routes on the Cycling around Ascott-Under-Wychwood guide.
What is the significance of the Ascott Martyrs' Memorial?
On the village green, a chestnut tree and memorial bench commemorate the 16 "Ascott Martyrs" of 1873. These local women were imprisoned for supporting striking agricultural laborers, playing a pioneering role in the trade union movement. It's a significant historical landmark reflecting the village's social history.
Can I visit ancient burial sites in the area?
Yes, the Ascott Long Barrow is a notable Neolithic Cotswold Severn long barrow, dating back to 3,700 BC. It served as a burial chamber for several generations and was excavated in the 1960s, offering a glimpse into prehistoric times.
Are there any art or craft venues in Ascott-Under-Wychwood?
Yes, an art gallery and craft shop, owned by Japanese artist Motoko Aritake-Wild, opened in the village in 2022, providing a cultural point of interest for visitors interested in local art and crafts.
What is the best time of year to visit Ascott-Under-Wychwood for outdoor activities?
The Cotswolds region, including Ascott-Under-Wychwood, is beautiful year-round. Spring and summer offer pleasant weather for walking and cycling, with vibrant greenery and blooming wildflowers. Autumn brings stunning foliage, while winter can offer crisp, quiet walks, though some paths might be muddy. Always check local weather conditions before your visit.
Is there parking available for visitors in Ascott-Under-Wychwood?
Yes, some establishments like The Swan Inn offer parking for patrons. For walks and general village exploration, public parking options may be available, but it's advisable to check specific locations or trailheads for designated parking areas.
What is the Wychwood Wild Garden?
Located near Ascott-Under-Wychwood, the Wychwood Wild Garden is a beautiful woodland and garden area. It's a tranquil spot perfect for a leisurely stroll and enjoying nature, complementing the wilder aspects of the nearby Wychwood Forest remnants.
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