page_title: Banbury
section_title: Banbury Cross
hierarchical_section_title: Banbury / Places of interest / Banbury Cross
caption_attribution_description: English: A Fine Lady on a white horse and Banbury Cross
context_page_description: Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England. The town is situated 64 miles northwest of London, 37 miles southeast of Birmingham, 27 miles south-by-southeast of Coventry and 22 miles north-by-northwest of the county town of Oxford. It had a population of 46,853 at the 2011 census.
  Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire and southern parts of Warwickshire and Northamptonshire which are predominantly rural. Banbury's main industries are motorsport, car components, electrical goods, plastics, food processing, and printing. Banbury is home to the world's largest coffee-processing facility, built in 1964. The town is famed for Banbury cakes – similar to Eccles cakes but oval in shape.
context_section_description: At one time Banbury had many crosses (the High Cross, the Bread Cross and the White Cross), but these were destroyed by Puritans in 1600. Banbury remained without a cross for more than 250 years until the current Banbury Cross was erected in 1859 at the centre of the town to commemorate the marriage of Victoria, Princess Royal (eldest child of Queen Victoria) to Prince Frederick of Prussia. The current Banbury Cross is a stone, spire-shaped monument decorated in Gothic form. Statues of Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V were added in 1914 to commemorate the coronation of George V. The cross is 52 feet 6 inches (16 m) high, and topped by a gilt cross.
  Towns with crosses in England before the reformation were places of Christian pilgrimage.
  The English nursery rhyme "Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross", in its several forms, may refer to one of the crosses destroyed by Puritans in 1600. In April 2005, Princess Anne unveiled a large bronze statue depicting the Fine Lady upon a White Horse of the nursery rhyme. It stands on the corner of West Bar and South Bar, just yards from the present Banbury Cross.
caption: The Fine Lady and Banbury Cross. The cross was designed by John Gibbs and erected in 1859.
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