[2] The main part of the hospital was founded as a result of a gift from Mary-Ann Horton, a local heiress.

This led Banbury's MP, Tony Baldry, plus a large proportion of the town's population, to start a campaign to keep the hospital open.

[5] The rumours proved to be unfounded, since the plans had already been abandoned by both the NHS Trust and the Health Minister.

[6] In 2006, the Horton attracted publicity because Benjamin Geen, a nurse employed there, was convicted of two murders and fifteen counts of grievous bodily harm in April of that year.

[7][8] Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group approved controversial plans to permanently downgrade the hospital’s maternity service to a midwife-led only unit in August 2017, but the Independent Reconfiguration panel recommended in March 2018 that “further action was required locally before a final decision is made about the future of maternity services in Oxfordshire”.