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Ride a Cock-Horse to Banbury Cross
Which Way to Banbury Cross? - Is the Setting Really Banbury?
In several of the illustrations, the town of Banbury looms in the background
of the pictures. This town does exist and there really is a cross. Anglo-Saxons
founded the market town of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England in the 5th century.
During medieval times, the town had three crosses. The High Cross, or
Market Cross, which was used for public proclamations, the Bread Cross
where the butchers and bakers sold their products, and the White Cross.
However, which Banbury cross the rhyme refers to remains unknown. The
crosses were destroyed in 1600 during the Puritan crusade against idolatry.
Today in Banbury, there is a cross, but this cross was constructed during
the 19th century to celebrate the wedding of the Princess Victoria to
Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia (http://www.banbury-cross.co.uk/banhistory.htm).
Banbury's cross, however, is not the only cross mentioned in variations
of the nursery rhyme. Charring Cross, Coventry Cross, and Shrewsbury Cross
have been used in regional versions.
The best illustration of the type of cross mentioned in the rhyme is behind
the horse's head in Marguerite DeAngeli's book.
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