A walking route of about an hour, a museum in a historic market house and a church with around 850 years of history: Burford combines specific insights into the town’s history with different ways to explore the surrounding area. When planning your trip, you can choose between a self-guided walk, routes through named places and cultural events.
History on the High Street
The Burford Tolsey Museum is located in the Tolsey, a building on Burford High Street. It was built in the early 16th century as a market house. Traders paid tolls there to use the market facilities; the Borough Court also met in the building. The Tolsey Museum is halfway along Burford’s main street—a notable landmark when exploring the town’s history.
Burford Church also represents a long history: it dates back around 850 years. It is open to visitors Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday from 1 pm to 4 pm. These hours do not apply at Christmas, Easter or New Year. Services and events may affect access, so take this into account when planning your visit.
The Burford Tolsey Archive offers another perspective on the town. It opened in November 2022 to collect, preserve and share written and oral stories and images from Burford. The museum and archive thus offer different ways to explore the town: the historic market house and its former function on the one hand, and the collection of local stories and images on the other.
Walking routes from Burford
The Self Guided Walking Tour of Burford is a self-guided walk past the town’s historic buildings. The circular route is just under a mile (1.4 km) long and takes about an hour. This gives you a clearly defined timeframe if you want to include some local history in your stay. Once downloaded, the tour can also be used offline.
For a route through several named places, Burford and Beyond is a circular walk from Burford through Signet, Holwell and Westwell. The route Burford & The Windrush Valley describes a different, specific section: in Burford, it descends the steep main street to the medieval bridge over the River Windrush. The route descriptions have different focuses—a circular walk through neighbouring places, or a route down to the bridge.
Cultural events and their themes
The Burford Festival takes place every two years. Its programme spans culture, visual arts, music, drama, dance, literature, science, heritage, horticulture and crafts. Its broad range of themes sets the festival apart from the annual events, each of which focuses on particular historical commemorations.
The annual Living History Village and Dragon Parade commemorates a famous battle in 752 AD between King Aethelbald of Mercia and King Cuthred of the West Saxons. The programme includes demonstrations of period crafts by the Oxfordshire group of Regia Anglorum, as well as a battle re-enactment on a recreation ground.
Levellers Day also takes place in Burford every year. It commemorates the events of 1649, in which the Levellers were involved. If you want to plan your trip around an event, note the different schedules: the festival takes place every two years, while the Living History Village and Dragon Parade and Levellers Day are annual. Check the dates of each event before making plans.
Taking the bus to Burford
Bus route 233 connects Woodstock and Burford via Bladon, Long Hanborough, North Leigh, Witney, Minster Lovell and Carterton. Buses run every 30 minutes, and hourly on Sundays. From Oxford to Witney, route S1 connects with the 233 to Burford. Check the operator’s information before travelling so you can plan your journey using the current timetable.
Explore more destinations: Fifield, Bicester, Oxford, Chinnor, Clanfield, Shipton-On-Cherwell, Garford, Hethe.
Return to the regional travel guide: Oxfordshire.
