20 June 2022

A cock-horse to Banbury Cross
and old stables in Stony Stratford

The old stables behind the Cock Hotel in Stony Stratford … was this stabling for the ‘Cock Horse’ on its way to Banbury Cross? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

Patrick Comerford

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
And she shall have music wherever she goes.


Recently I posted photographs of the stables, old and new, behind the Cock Hotel on the High Street in Stony Stratford, only to have people ask on social media whether these were the original stables for the ‘Cock Horse’ that took the fine lady to Banbury Cross.

The first version of the children’s nursery rhyme about riding a cock horse to Banbury Cross may date back to in 1725, with the opening words, ‘Now on Cock-horse does he ride.’ An early version of the present rhyme was included in Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book around 1744.

But was there an earlier rhyme?

Who was the fine lady?

Which cross in Banbury was she riding to?

And did she make her journey on a horse from the stables behind the Cock Hotel in Stony Stratford?

Some comments suggest a mediaeval date for the rhyme because the bells the lady wears on her toes refer to the fashion of wearing bells on the end of toes and shoes in the 15th century.

Banbury Cross was pulled down around 1600, and the present cross only dates from 1859. So, which cross was she trying to get to?

Of course, it is possible that Banbury Cross refers not to a monument but to Banbury’s location at an important crossroads. But, in the past, Banbury had at least three other crosses – the High Cross, the Bread Cross, and the White Cross – all destroyed by zealous Puritans, who condemned the cross as a symbol of paganism. The carvings decorating the cross, included Christ on the Cross, the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child and an image of a bare-headed man with a book, perhaps one of the Four Evangelists.

At dawn on 26 July 1600, two masons took it on themselves to start hacking and pulling at the High Cross. Soon they were joined by 40 more collaborators as a partisan crowd started to gather. As the cross crumbled and fell, Henry Shewell, later the bailiff, cried out ‘God be thanked, Dagon the deluder of the people is fallen down!’ (see I Samuel 5: 2-7)

The present cross in the centre of Banbury has nothing to do with the rhyme. It was erected in 1859 to celebrate the wedding of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, to Prince Frederick of Prussia.

The fine lady in the rhyme has been identified with both Lady Godiva and Queen Elizabeth I. Banbury was at the top of a steep hill and in order to help carriages up the steep incline a white cock horse or large stallion was made available to help. When Queen Elizabeth’s carriage tried to go up the hill a wheel broke, one local legend says, and she Queen chose to mount the cock horse and ride to Banbury Cross. The people of the town decorated the cock horse with ribbons and bells and provided minstrels to accompany her – ‘she shall have music wherever she goes.’

On the other hand, local tradition suggests the fine lady was really a ‘Fiennes Lady,’ Celia Fiennes, whose brother, William Fiennes (1641-1698), 3rd Viscount Saye and Sele, lived nearby at Broughton Castle.

A ‘cock horse’ can mean a high-spirited horse, and the additional horse used to assist pulling a cart or carriage up a hill. It can also mean an entire or uncastrated horse. From the mid-16th century it also meant a pretend hobby horse or an adult’s knee. There is also an expression ‘a-cock-horse,’ meaning ‘astride.’

But could the nursery rhyme refer to the Cock Hotel in Stony Stratford, less than 30 miles or half an hour east of Banbury and where people could hire a horse to ride across to Banbury?

It is said John Cok was the landlord of the Cock Inn about 1480, and that the hotel takes its name from him, not the bird depicted on the sign.

The Cock and the neighbouring Bull Hotel were convenient half-way, stopping places for stagecoaches, where travellers could find food, entertainment and a bed for the night, while horses were shod, fed, watered and rested, or fresh horses were made ready for the next day’s journey.

A major fire started in the nearby Bull Hotel in 1742 and spread down to the river and beyond, destroying many buildings in Stony Stratford, including the Cock Hotel and the old Parish Church. The Cock Hotel was rebuilt and travellers staying at the Cock and the Bull would vie with each other as they told outrageous tales of the road, leaving us with ‘Cock and Bull’ stories.

Local legend continues to insist that the Cock Hotel is the ‘cock’ of the nursery rhyme, and part of the stabling facilities behind the Cock can still be seen today. The Vaults Bar has reopened at the Bull, and hopefully there are plans to reopen the Bull itself, opening the possibility of a new generation of ‘Cock and Bull’ stories.

The Stable Yard behind the Cock Hotel … being turned to new uses (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great info 🙏🏼 Beautifully written 😃

Anonymous said...

I live in Stony Stratford and I believe the cock horse is the back up horse that used to wait to take over the final stage.

Anonymous said...

Between Stony and Banbury

Anonymous said...

Interesting points and I note that you do not come down on one side or the other 😁 I would like to know how old the stable (with its painted sign) is.