For those who may not have heard of it, Banbury is a small market town in the north of Oxfordshire. The association many people will have with Banbury is as the location for the nursery rhyme 'Banbury Cross', which the town does indeed make reference to more than once whilst you're wandering through.
The most recent cultural nod comes in the form of a beautifully made sculpture of the main subject of the rhyme, the 'fine lady on a white horse'. (The horse is more bronze-y-grey in this case.) With her arm aloft, scattering petals as she travels, our fine lady is as described: ring-fingered and bell-toed and most picturesque, in a Pre-Raphaelite sort-of way, with flowing locks, sporting a bandeau of flowers. Her horse is equally majestic and well-matched both in handsomeness and regal deportment.
Why am I waxing lyrical about this statue? Well, I do love a bit of public art, but actually it's because our Siren-on-a-Stallion (Nymph-on-a-Nag?) gets all the blinkin' glory in her more-or-less central location, whilst another less 'photogenic' lady gets overlooked.
If you're ever in the vicinity of the Castle Quay shopping mall adjacent to Banbury's market place, you'll come across the north entrance to the retail outlet, the former façade of the town's old Cornhill Corn Exchange. It's a glorious example of Victoriana, complete with columns, floral motifs and a tympanum. Behind the apex on a stone pedestal stands Ceres, keeping vigil on the town and passers-by.
Compared to our 'Fine Lady', she's a bit frumpy, faintly Neolithic in appearance and has more in common with the Venus of Millendorf than de Milo. However, all that adds to her matriarchal charms. Plus she's Ceres: goddess of the earth in Roman mythology. Mother to Proserpina, whose grief when her daughter was stolen by the king of the Underworld turned the seasons into winter, where crops failed and flowers withered.
Plus, she lends herself to a fine bit of punning, the type of which Private Eye magazine might secretly be a bit proud:
Demeter, reading
Aye thank you: I'm here all week!
Jovial wordplay aside, I'm hoping this has shed a little light on Banbury's other fine lady and that if you're ever on a visit to Banbury's market place you might look up and give Ceres a small tilt in recognition.
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