Town celebrates iconic landmark anniversary

The Fine Lady on a Horse turned 20 and was celebrated with Morris dancing and bouquets of flowers at her feet

A town has marked twenty years since the unveiling of one of its most iconic landmarks.

Adderbury Village Morris danced around the Fine Lady on a White Horse and people laid bouquets of flowers to celebrate its unveiling on South Bar, opposite Banbury Cross in Oxfordshire, on 27 April 2005.

She is depicted as a Queen of the May with wild roses and daffodils in her crown and commemorates a nursery rhyme which has made the town famous throughout the world.

Artist Rosy Burke, who was part of the long campaign to get the statue made, said the statue was "full of meaning".

It took the committee members and town hall staff, some of whom attended the anniversary celebrations, about six years to raise money and create the statue

The planning of the statue endured planning battles and critics thought it a waste of money.

Ms Burke said it took about six years to raise the money and create it.

But efforts paid off and Princess Anne delivered a speech at the unveiling, saying it "reflects a very fine piece of art which we will all be proud of in the future".

"And the extraordinary fame that Banbury has not just in the United Kingdom but around the world because of those few famous lines," she added, referring to the Ride A Cock Horse To Banbury Cross nursery rhyme.

Princess Anne delivered a speech at the statue's unveiling in 2005

Ms Burke said at that moment she had had "tears running down my cheeks".

"All the traffic had been stopped all the way round Banbury Cross and there were thousands of people there, all leaning up on ladders and trying to see the princess.

"And there were beautiful April showers ... the church bells were ringing, it was absolutely splendid."

The statue was modelled on the Ride A Cock Horse To Banbury Cross nursery rhyme

The sculpture portrays the lady scattering petals upon the people of Banbury to bring them good luck and fertility.

"She's riding this enormous male stallion and he's pawing the ground impatiently," Ms Burke said.

She added that the statue was "full of meaning", having thirteen flowers in the crown for the ancient months of the year.

On her visiting the sculptors to choose the patina with the committee, she had given them a bunch of daffodils as a gift.

"One of the sculptors dipped one of the strappy leaves into wax and embedded it in the wax crown he was creating.

"We embedded lucky horse shoes under each one of the horse's feet, there's butterflies and moths and a little frog down at a low level for children which represents community."

The sculpture portrays the lady scattering petals upon the people of Banbury to bring them good luck and fertility