Shipston-on-Stour is a town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon District in southern Warwickshire, England.

[2] This area is sometimes termed the Vale of Red Horse, close to the Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire borders.

[5] In 1889 the Great Western Railway upgraded the line to allow the operation of steam trains from Moreton to Shipston.

[5] Worcester Cathedral owned the manorial rights for centuries, and even in the 1840s held a court annually, at which a town constable was appointed.

The patrons were Worcester Cathedral and Jesus College, Oxford, the former presenting (appointing the priest) to every third vacancy.

[5] Baptists, the Society of Friends, and Wesleyans each had a place of worship; and at Foxcote, in the parish, was a Roman Catholic chapel.

[5] Shipston poor law union (c.1830–1894) administered those functions in 37 parishes or places: 20 in Warwickshire, 13 in Gloucestershire, and 4 in Worcestershire; across[clarification needed] in the 1840s a population of 19,685 people.

[14] Shipston on Stour Rugby Football Club currently plays in the Midlands 3 West (South) league.

[19] The A3400 road runs through Shipston, and links it with Stratford-upon-Avon to the north-west, and to Chipping Norton and Oxford to the south-east.

The A429 road passes to the west, using part of the historic Fosse Way, which connect Shipston with Warwick to the north, and Tewkesbury to the south-west.

He stated in a BBC Radio 4 interview in May 2007 that this relates to his youthful experiences, riding horses with his brother Barry.