New book on Banbury's life and development in Georgian times is published by historian

Georgian Banbury provides a fascinating, readable account of ‘a particularly interesting market town’, reflecting the literature and popular culture of theperiod.

This new study, which has called on Banbury Historical Society’s library of surviving sources, brings together the work of numerous scholars over recent decades.

“Banbury is often seen as an archetypal market town, a place of modest size with relatively few inhabitants, yet a centre of influence over a wide hinterland,” said Dr Trinder.

“It was celebrated in the seventeenth century for its Puritan zeal and in the mid-19th century for its liberal views and liberal politics. This study analyses the twelve decades that comprised the reigns of the four Georges, during which for 36 years Lord North, the Prime Minister during the American War of Independence, was the town’s MP.

“The book examines the economic changes of the period, the transformation of the hinterland from open field to enclosed farming, the growing specialisation of retailing, the prosperity of plush manufacturing, and the profound changes brought about by the opening of the Oxford Canal and the improvement of roads by turnpike trusts,” he said.

“The emergence of the network of country carriers for which Banbury is examined in detail. The book also features the changing pattern of religion in the town and with the political system – in particular with the deference to landed interests that typified Banbury in the 18th century and with the impatience with the established order that began with the demolition of the medieval parish church in 1790, culminating with the election of Reformer MPs in 1831 and 1832.”

Dr Trinder is vice-president of Banbury Historical Society. He grew up in Banbury and was one of the first members of the society whose journal, Cake & Cockhorse, he edited between 1963 and1974.

His study of Victorian Banbury was published in 1982 and he has been responsible for three of the Historical Society’s records publications in the past decade. His writings in Shropshire became one of the foundations of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum.

He has lectured in Western Europe, South Africa, Japan and North America, and made substantial contributions to the work of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

Georgian Banbury is available at Banbury Museum.