CALTHORPE HOUSE.--The Calthorpe Manor of old time is now sadly diminished, its fish pond drained and its park a building ground. The north-west part of the house is in use as a wool warehouse, but yet the east front, now Calthorpe House School, stands in good order with stone porch, and armorial shield of the Hawtayne's, and a good oriel window above bearing the arms in stained glass of the Brancestre (1545) and Danvers' families. The inscriptions thereon are "Danvers Matched D'Oyley," "Danvers long time owned Calthropp," etc. The house, one of the religious houses of early date and probably part of the hospice of St. John, was linked with the early history of the town. Beesley and Macnamara speak of its associations with the Brancestre family in the time of Richard II. (1378), and later with that of Danvers. The former granted lands to the master of St. John, thus implying a religious holding. By its reconstruction in Queen Elizabeth's days we know the reformation had swept away its religious order, and the fine oriel window is of that date. It is said that Nonconformity was preached for the first time in Banbury in the oriel room. [Illustration: COURTYARD, REINDEER INN, BANBURY.] OLD INNS.--The Reindeer, in Parson's Street, is probably older than any of the houses before mentioned; the wooden gates are dated 1570, and have inscribed on them the names Iohn Knight, Ihone Knight, David Horne. The richly moulded ceiling and the fine panelling of the principal room, known as the Globe Room, are of the style of the Italian renaissance, and above the window is an inscription of the date 1570. The Unicorn Inn, in the Market Place, and the adjoining house, at one time no doubt part of the inn, belong to a later period; the massive wooden gates are carved with the date 1648. The Old George (1614) seems to have formerly borne the name of The George and Altarstone, from a supposed Roman altar dug up on the site of the inn, and formerly exhibited in one of the rooms. THE BARS.--The entrances to the town were formerly crossed by gates, or bars, five in number. The North Bar, from which the present street is named, stood near the tan-yard, southward of the corner of Warwick Road. The Cole Bar closed the old Adderbury and Oxford Road, which entered the town by way of New Land and Broad Street before the making of the turnpike road. St. John's Bar closed the entrance from Chipping Norton, and stood at the spot where Monument Street now enters South Bar. When the Bar was destroyed its site was marked by an obelisk, long since removed, from which Monument Street takes its name. Sugarford Bar stood in West Street, close to where it is now crossed by the Shades, and the Bridge Gate stood on the old bridge over the Cherwell. Not a vestige of any of the bars remains.