Banbury Cross

Banbury Cross stands where Horsefair, South Bar and West Bar Street meet at the top of the High Street in Banbury. It is the cross people come looking for because of the rhyme, but this one is Victorian: the medieval crosses had gone by 1600. Historic England lists it Grade II*.

The story of Banbury Cross

The present cross went up as a wedding monument, and the earlier ones came down in a religious row. It marks the marriage of Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, the Princess Royal, to Prince Frederick of Prussia. The town council dates it to 1859 and the listing to 1858. The listing names J. Gibbs of Oxford as designer and Boulton and Sons as carvers. The sponsors wanted, in the council's quotation of them, a 'lasting credit and honour to the town'.

The crosses that came down

Medieval Banbury had more than one cross. The Victoria County History records that the Bread Cross and the High Cross were destroyed in 1600 as objects of superstitious veneration. Much of what is known comes from a Star Chamber suit against a small group of aldermen led by William Knight, so the account is one side's allegation. The history does not settle where the crosses stood, and it cites a whole article in the journal Oxoniensia on that one question. Nothing of them is visible now.

The rhyme, and what nobody knows

The rhyme about riding a cock horse to Banbury Cross is first found in print around 1744, says the same history, with several versions following in the 1780s. It may be older, but the lack of early allusions suggests it spread late. So the cross in the rhyme cannot have been this one, which did not exist yet. Our story of the Fine Lady and her cross goes through the candidates for the lady.

What to look for

The cross is limestone, in the style of an Eleanor Cross, with niches, statues and a small spire. These are the details worth crossing the road for:

• Three statues in the niches, of Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V
• The shields of arms on the upper part, for people connected with the town's history
• The different arms the town itself has used over the centuries
• The town's motto, Dominus nobis sol et scutum, which the council translates as 'The Lord is our Sun and Shield'
• The metal cross at the top

The statues are later than the monument. They went in during 1914 to mark George V's coronation of 1911. The whole thing was cleaned and restored in May and June 2012 by Harristone Masonry, part-funded by the Fine Lady on a White Horse Appeal, when the stonework was steam cleaned and the shields repainted.

Visiting Banbury Cross

There is no entry charge, no opening time and no way inside, so this is a five-minute stop on a walk through town. The cross stands at a road junction, so look at it from the pavements. It is best combined with the statue and the church, both a few minutes away on foot.

Getting there

The cross is at the top of the High Street, on foot from anywhere in the town centre. Drivers should use a town car park: our guide to parking in Banbury has them. Rail passengers can use our guide to Banbury station. Buses are in our buses guide.

Nearby

The Fine Lady statue is just yards away, on the corner of West Bar and South Bar. St Mary's Church is close by on Horse Fair, and People's Park is close by too. For more of the town's story, Banbury Museum and Gallery is free, by the canal on Spiceball Park Road. For a pub, Ye Olde Reindeer Inn is our town centre listing, and our guide to things to do in Banbury puts it all in order.