Sunday 14th October 2012 - To see a fine lady ride on a white horse

I’ve just been to Banbury, I wanted to see Banbury Cross. It is basically a mini roundabout filtering traffic. I’d planned to come to Banbury on earlier trips but had always run out of time. This time I was on my way north and my sister Sue was at a folk festival in Banbury. So after meeting up with her, I went to find Banbury Cross. Apparently there used to be three crosses in Banbury and all were destroyed by the Puritans in the 17th century. But a new cross was built to commemorate the wedding of Queen Victoria’s daughter. Queen Victoria looks to the town centre, Prince Albert looks in the opposite direction. This is where the old horse fair would have been, hence the nursery rhyme. And there’s a new status of a fine lady on a white horse which was commissioned for the millennium. I’ve also recently discovered Celia Fiennes, another woman who travelled around Britain. She was braver than I and travelled on horseback (and side saddle). Yesterday I saw a second hand bookshop and was surprised and delighted to find that they had a copy of her story of travelling (between 1697 and 1712). She describes Banbury as ‘a pretty little town, its streets broad and well pitched’. She makes no mention of the destroyed cross, but she was a Puritan and according to my new book, Banbury ‘the most Puritan town in England’. Banbury remains a pretty little town and many of the streets broad. But many of the shops, restaurants and offices are now empty and looking for new tenants. Since Celia’s time the Grand Union Canal has been flowing through Banbury and is lined with barges. Now it’s part of the leisure economy rather than a means of moving materials and finished goods. In a curious coincidence her mother lived at Newton Toney (just outside Salisbury where my mother now lives) and many of her travels (as has been the case for me) started with leaving Wiltshire. She often stayed with her aristrocratic family when she travelled. I have fewer relations, and none aristocratic so our paths diverge. I may try and follow one of her journeys. The weather forecast is looking patchy and it may be I decide to avoid the rain rather than follow her route. But I shall be trying to work out if places are still recognisable. Everywhere was looking moodily autumnal as I left London. The morning was cold and bright. Blue skies and season of mist and mellow fruitfulness as is supposed to be the case in autumn. The leaves on the trees were changing colour and the plentiful field maples were turning gold and orange. All dramatically highlighted by the sun. As I travelled further north the field maples disappeared, dark clouds were filling the skies and everywhere looked more drab.