Banbury "People's History" Walk, 6th June 2012

[Paul Mobbs]

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A "People's History" Walk: Join us on tour through 1,000 years of Banbury's 
social history

A 1½ mile walk around the town centre looking at the history of Banbury and 
its people, and their role in some of the social struggles that have made 
the country what it is today.

Walk begins at 7.30pm, Wednesday 6th June, outside the
Friends Meeting House (opposite St. Mary's Church), Horsefair, Banbury.
The walk should take about 1½ hours.


The struggles of the average person are not often reflected in our popular 
history; all too often we punctuate our national story with kings, lords 
and wars. As Britain celebrates the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, Ideas for a 
Change are organising a different take on historical events. We're launching 
a short circular walk around the town centre to highlight not just the 
social history of the people of Banbury but also the extraordinary role 
Banbury has played in the history of the nation.

Banbury is on the border of different counties and regions, and it's the 
location of the town that has played an important part in its history. 
Sitting at the centre of England, this area has been the place where armies 
have met, from the battles between Danes and Saxons, to the Wars of the 
Roses and the Civil War. Whilst its location may have once isolated the 
town, that isolation has allowed a rich social history to flourish over the 
centuries.

As an area of early industrialisation, particularly weaving and 
printing/paper-making, the independence of its citizens meant the town 
always had a very free-thinking attitude, especially in relation to 
religion. Whilst it may appear odd today, it's not possible to look at the 
evolution of modern secular politics without considering the impact of 
religion; and in Banbury religion has been the driving force behind many 
social movements -- from the first Protestant dissenters, to Levellers and 
Quakers, and the nonconformist chapels of the Nineteenth Century which gave 
rise to the modern labour movement.

On the walk we'll look at:

# How the geography of Banbury gave rise to the modern town which exists 
today;

# Why Banbury was a centre of Protestantism, and how that influenced its 
social and political history during and after the Civil War;

# The Levellers movement, and how their calls for change still echo in the 
political debates of today;

# The importance of Banbury as a centre of Quakerism, and the Quaker legacy 
which remains around the town;

# Why the corrupt political history of the town often led to riots at 
Parliamentary elections, and how one local family owned the town but their 
inept governance lost the American colonies;

# How -- from Swing Riots, to Chartism, to agricultural unions and the co-
operative movement --  Banbury has been involved in the great social and 
political struggles which have formed our modern nation;

# Why Banbury became an industrial centre, and how that created the town we 
see today; and

# How, in recent years, the changing make-up of the town has -- as in the 
previous 1,000 years -- reflected the changes taking place across the 
country as a whole.


In looking back at how we arrived at our position today, we hope that 
people will be able to gain a greater perspective on the possibilities for 
change in the future. The purpose of Ideas for a Change is to focus on the 
ways in which our lifestyles will have to change as a result of peak oil, 
climate change, and the general "limits to growth" which are driving the 
economic crisis today. In adapting to the economic, energy and resource 
challenges of the near future, the past history of the town can provide 
practical inspiration as to how our town might re-localise our economy and 
food production systems.


For further information on Ideas for a Change see out web site -- 
http://www.fraw.org.uk/ideas   The walk is led by Paul Mobbs, local author 
and environmentalist. If you have any queries about the walk please email 
Paul -- mobbsey at gn.apc.org 

- -- 

.

"We are not for names, nor men, nor titles of Government,
nor are we for this party nor against the other but we are
for justice and mercy and truth and peace and true freedom,
that these may be exalted in our nation, and that goodness,
righteousness, meekness, temperance, peace and unity with
God, and with one another, that these things may abound."
(Edward Burrough, 1659 - from 'Quaker Faith and Practice')

Paul's book, "Energy Beyond Oil", is out now!
For details see http://www.fraw.org.uk/mei/ebo/

Read my 'essay' weblog, "Ecolonomics", at:
http://www.fraw.org.uk/mei/ecolonomics/

Paul Mobbs, Mobbs' Environmental Investigations
3 Grosvenor Road, Banbury OX16 5HN, England
tel./fax (+44/0)1295 261864
email - mobbsey at gn.apc.org
website - http://www.fraw.org.uk/mei/index.shtml
public key - http://www.fraw.org.uk/mei/mobbsey-2011.asc

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