Manufactures: Agricultural implements and machinery, patent files, patent boxes, and cabinet goods; linen garments; cloth; cakes; ale and beer; horse girths; patent gates.

Geology: Lower town, Middle Lias clays and thin limestones; Middle town, Middle Lias seleniferous marls and thin limestones; High town, Middle Lias rock (ironstone); Crouch Hill and Constitution Hill, capped with thick Upper Lias clays and Inferior Oolite limestones and sand.

Banbury Cross.—A fine hexagonal Gothic structure, fifty feet in height, was erected from the designs of the architect, Mr. John Gibbs, in 1859, in commemoration of the marriage of the Princess Royal with Prince Frederick William of Prussia. On the buttresses of the lower stage are painted the municipal seals of old Banbury. Between the buttresses are pedestals intended to receive statues. Statues of the late Queen, Oliver Cromwell, and Whateley would complete the beauty of the structure if accompanied by the removal of the palisading. The upper panels are enriched with conventional ornaments of vine, ivy, rose, and other flowers, and bear the arms or cyphers of Queens Mary and Victoria, Kings Charles I. and George I., the Princess William of Prussia, the Earls of Banbury and Guildford, Viscount Saye and Sele, Sir William Cope, Sir William Compton, the Bishop of Lincoln, and the Rev. W. Whateley. The celebrated old Cross is believed to have stood near the site of the present one, and was destroyed about the year 1602, at which time it went ill with the other Crosses which formerly adorned the town, owing to excesses of religious zeal. The High Cross mentioned in King Ed. VI.’s reign is probably the same as The Bread Cross repaired in 1563, on the site of which the present Cross is supposed to be. Of the White Cross “outside Sugarford” (West) Bar and of the Market Cross no more can be said. From a passage in Leland’s Itinerary, it appears that the Cross was of some note, and from the old nursery rhyme, “Ride a cock-horse,” &c., if from no more veracious record, it seems that it was honoured by an occasional pageant.

The Parish Church (St. Mary’s).—The old church, of which there is abundant record in engravings and contemporary drawings, stood on the ground where now is the new church. Of fine proportions and good style, its destruction (1790) appears to have been an ill-judged measure. It had a massive west tower, embattled and crowned by eight ornamented pinnacles and a series of beautiful windows on the south and south-east sides. Its chantry of St. Mary was founded in 1413, and there was another chapel dedicated to honour the resurrection of our Lord. Records remain of the armorial glass, nearly all of which was destroyed during the time of the siege of Banbury Castle, when the church was used as a vantage point. There were sixty coats of arms. The church was said to be the burying place of Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, its founder, also of William Pope, cofferer to Henry VII., and of Captayn Wm. Danvers who died “in the service of God and the King” in 1643. Mr. Arden’s list of the Vicars of Banbury gives the date of death of Vicar Roger as 1278. Many of the remains of the old fabric are in use as ornaments in Banbury gardens.

Erected about 1797, the present church stands in architecture far away from the taste of the time. It is nevertheless a bold and good design by Cockerill of domestic Doric style. Betwixt its beginning and its completion so many years intervened as to give birth to the rhyme:

“Proud Banbury, poor people,
Built a church without a steeple.”

The portico with its semicircle of plain columns and the circular tower, 133 feet high, with its ornamental quartrefoiling and the balconied alleis are not without massive beauty of their own. The bareness and heavy structure of the body are compensated for by the beauty of the interior decoration, which is of the best of the mural work of the kingdom. The galleries and dome are supported by twelve graceful Ionic pillars, arranged in an octagonal figure. The chancel has been re-built in unison with the original design, and the apse is worked in colour in three divisions representing the twelve apostles with trees of scripture in the background. The ceiling illustrates the enthronement of Christ (Rev. iv.) On the wall, at the east of the nave, are inscribed the tables of the commandments. A band of gold encircles the dome, bearing the text, “The Lord is in His holy temple,” &c. The painted windows are good examples of modern work; one in the north-west gallery is in memory of the explorer, Admiral Sir G. Back, uncle of the late vicar, and represents arctic scenes and figures. The work was carried out at the cost of and during the office of the late vicar, the Rev. H. Back, aided by Miss Wyatt and others. The decorators were Messrs. Heaton, Butler and Baines. There is also a richly inlaid marble font, and pulpit. At the time of the Victorian Jubilee the peal of eight bells was overhauled, and new chimes with shifts for three weeks added to the clock tower. Beesley gives four of the bells as having been made by the Bagleys’ of Chacombe, where they had a well known 17th century bell foundry. The eighth bell bears the inscription:

“I ring to Sermon with a lusty boome
That all may come and none may stay at home.”

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