Banbury:

Probably most famous for its Cross as heard off in the Children's Nursey Ryhmes:-

"Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross"

The words of the Banbury Cross nursery rhyme are often attributed to Queen Elizabeth I of England who travelled to Banbury to see a huge stone cross which had just been erected. The words 'With rings on her fingers' obviously relates to the fine jewellery which would be worn by a Queen. The words 'And bells on her toes' refer to the fashion of attaching bells to the end of the pointed toes of each shoe. 

Banbury was situated at the top of a steep hill and in order to help carriages up the steep incline a white cock horse was made available by the town's council to help with this task. When the Queen's carriage attempted to go up the hill a wheel broke and the Queen chose to mount the cock horse and ride to the Banbury cross. The people of the town had  decorated the cock horse with ribbons and bells and provided minstrels to accompany her.

Banbury is a superb town, well worth visiting, still keeping its local market on a Saturday, and steeped in old time buildings, with its narrow side streets adding that feel of "oldness" rather than the new build shopping centres that seem to be more common in other local towns.