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The
Holt, or Hopcrofts Holt, to give it the full title, is
a former coaching inn that stands on the main Oxford to Banbury
A4260, some twelve miles north of Oxford.
An
inn has been known on the site since the fifteenth century,
and was certainly well established by the time Richard III
met his bloody end on the battlefield at Bosworth. In those
days the inn was a modest affair with just half a dozen rooms,
but standing alongside a major crossroads, and on a route that
would become a major turnpike in later centuries, the inn's
future was always assured.
Hopcrofts
Holt became a major staging post in the heyday of coach travel,
and offered comfortable accommodation and a change of horses
for travelers on the north road from Oxford - effectively
the capital of England during the Civil War. With traffic also
passing by on the east-west route between Bicester and
Chipping Norton, the Holt has always been a busy meeting place.
With more than 80 rooms today, as well as restaurant,
bars and function rooms, it is now a popular stop-over
for business people, tourists, shoppers (Bicester Village is
nearby) and motor racing teams.
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Being
sited on a major crossroads and offering everything the weary
traveler could wish for has ensured that The Holt has continued
to thrive, despite an essentially rural location. The hotel's
bedrooms range from the Blenheim Suite, with its magnificent
four-poster, through generously proportioned family rooms,
to comfortable doubles, twins and singles. All have en-suite
bathrooms, wi-fi and the usual amenities, and over the last 12 months, most have been fully refurbished. There are 9 function
rooms, the award-winning Du Vall Restaurant with
extensive table d'hote menu, and the Highwayman's Bar &
Lounge where
bar meals are also served. There is ample parking for more
than 200 cars.
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In
the seventeenth century Hopcrofts Holt was the favoured haunt
of notorious highwayman Claude Duval. Born in Normandy in around
1643, Duval became entangled in the aftermath of the English
Civil War and, on the Restoration of the monarchy, journeyed
to England with a group of Royalists returning from Paris.
After working briefly 'in service', he embarked on a rather
more flamboyant career depriving wealthy travelers of their
riches and dignity, but in a typically gallic style. He reputedly
never used actual violence, was meticulously polite, and even
insisted on dancing with the wives of the affluent gentlemen
he robbed.
Such
was the romantic notion of Duval's life that he has been credited
with saving Charles II life, being a close friend (and more?)
of Nell Gwynn, and the subject of many songs, folk tales, novels
and even an opera. The law eventually caught up with Duval,
and he was captured in London's Covent Garden, tried, found
guilty, and hanged. On that day The Holt lost one of its best
patrons, but he remains immortalised in the form of the hotel's
magnificent carved and painted inn sign.
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