The Book of Banbury - Christine Bloxham - Barracuda Books

• EDITORE: Barracuda Books
  
• AUTORE: Christine Bloxham
• ANNO DI PUBBLICAZIONE: 1975

Pagine 148 - fotografie ed illustrazioni in nero.
Copertina rigida con sovraccoperta.
In INGLESE.
Libro in buone condizioni.

Every child knows about Banbury. ’Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross, To see a fine lady on a white horse ’. But Banbury is a great deal more than a town with a cross and a pretty verse. In 1636 one commentator wrote: ’Banbury is a goodly faire Market towne, and it is famous for Cakes, Cheese and Zeale.’ It is also in many ways, a mirror to England’s national story.
Twelve thousand years ago, early man hunted the hillsides, and six thousand years later farmers settled on the slopes and built their forts above. The Romans exploited the fertile soil of the Cherwell valley and the Saxons created the original township, on both sides of the river. The church dominated early Banbury, and dissension was rife. Crosses were defaced and buildings demolished. Wits looked to Banbury to satirise nonconformity. Meanwhile the river crossing and market brought prosperity. A great castle rose, to be ravaged by the Civil War which raged round and through this town more than most.
Great families dominated local affairs, and entrepreneurs and eccentrics thronged the town. Food and drink brought Banbury fame, with its cakes and cheese and ale, to be paralleled in the post-war era by the incoming industrialists. Now Banbury benefiting from the communications explosion, is vastly expanded, with international companies, its world famous cattle market and innovation in a multiplicity of directions - not least with the country’s largest comprehensive school and the massive redevelopment of the market square. Yet this one act takes account of Banbury’s colourful past, for the façades of the original buildings remain unchanged - progress wearing an historic face.
The Book of Banbury traces this eventful story down the decades with accuracy and panache. The author has sifted the existing records and researched original material to produce a tapestry of fact and legend, great events and curious people. The story unfolds with precision, lightened with anecdote and aside, and it wears a decorative face, through scores of illustrations - maps, documents, prints, and photographs old and new.
The Book of Banbury has been published in both limited and general editions - a record for posterity, and a book to instruct and amuse both today and in the future.