History of Banbury the region within approximately 20 miles of the market town of Banbury. The county of Oxfordshire has two main commercial centres, the city of Oxford itself, which serves most of the south of the county, and Banbury, which serves the north (such as Adderbury, Deddington, Wroxton, Great Bourton and Bloxham), plus parts of the neighbouring counties of Northamptonshire and Warwickshire. Hook Norton brewery, on the outskirts of Banburyshire, is one of Britain's last working tower breweries (by April 2006) and supplies several Banbury and Oxfordshire pubs with beer. From the former, the villages of King's Sutton and Middleton Cheney, and
Banbury north Oxfordshire. Use of the term dates from the early to mid 19th century. It was common in the 19th century for market towns in England to describe their hinterland by tacking "shire" onto the town's name. "Stones Map of Banburyshire" held by the Centre of Banbury Studies was published in the 1870s or 1880s and it asserted that the term originated in the 1830s but no source is given for that assertion. In the 1850s magazine articles used "Banburyshire" or the hyphenated term "Banbury-shire". The Banburyshire Natural History Society was formed in 1881. In the 20th century a number