Banbury is an attractive market town in the Oxfordshire countryside made famous by the “nursery rhyme.”:http://www.cotswolds.info/strange-things/banbury-cross.shtml There is still a Banbury Cross at the bottom of Horse Fair, but is Victorian. Banbury once had three medieval crosses but they were destroyed in 1601. The present cross was erected to commemorate the wedding of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter to the Crown Prince of Prussia in 1859. Close by it is a modern sculpture of the ‘fine lady’ on a black horse, commissioned by the council in 2003.
Banbury was a Saxon settlement at the junction of two ancient trackways. Although it was never a walled town, it did have arched gateways or bars across the main roads leading into the town and their names survive in the street names of South Bar, North Bar and West Bar. It became an important medieval town with a flourishing market and many coaching inns. The reindeer inn dates from the C16th. There are other C16th buildings scattered around the town. Some of the old alleyways still survive. The Norman castle was demolished after the Civil War.
The “Church of St Mary the Virgin”:http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/churches/england/cotswolds/oxfordshire/banbury_mary/index.html had also been damaged during the Civil War an collapsed at the end of the C18th. It was replaced by a stunning Georgian building with a pepper pot tower and central dome supported by twelve pillars. The “Catholic Church of St John the Evangelist”:http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/churches/england/cotswolds/oxfordshire/banbury_john/index.html at the opposite end of the town was built in the early C19th as part of the Catholic revival.
The opening of the Oxford Canal in 1790 lead to the growth of Banbury as an industrial as well as a market town as it ensured a cheap and reliable supply of coal. The railway arrived in 1850 and the town grew rapidly. “Tooley’s Boatyard”:http://www.tooleysboatyard.co.uk built boats until the 1940s and still carries out repairs. It is the oldest dry dock on the Inland Waterways and the workshops have been carefully restored. They offer a range of courses from painting roses on narrow boats to learning blacksmith skills. They also have a purpose built canal boat offering trips on the canal.
“Banbury Museum”:http://www.banburymuseum.org is in a modern, purpose built building at Castle Quay. It tells the history of the town as well as having a rolling programme of special exhibitions. There are displays on the canal heritage, Elizabethan silverware and it has one of the best collections of costumes in Oxfordshire.
The town still has a Thursday and Saturday market and is still famous for its Banbury cakes, flat pastries with a spicy fruit filling and they can still be bought in local bakers.
Tourist Information have produced a leaflet of a “historic town trail”:http://my.viewranger.com/route/details/MjNfNDc5NQ and the museum has produced an “oral history sound trail.”:http://www.banburymuseum.org/Exploring-Banbury-Town
There are a range of events and festivals throughout the year from a “food fair”:https://www.banbury.gov.uk/Banbury_Food__and__Drink_Festival_19485.aspx,
“flower and produce fair”:https://www.banbury.gov.uk/Flower__and__Produce_Show_19488.aspx, “canal day”:http://www.banbury.gov.uk/Banbury-Town-Council/banbury_canal_day-5161.aspx and even a “folk and hobby horse festival”:http://www.banburyfolkfestival.co.uk/
There’s more to Banbury than the nursery rhyme.
