TEN years after the bronze character of Banbury’s Fine Lady statue was cast, she remains an English tourist attraction.

Appearing as the Queen of the May – rather than Broughton Castle family member Celia Fiennes, contrary to the popular myth – the statue references the classic nursery rhyme Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross and celebrated its 10th anniversary last month.

It has attracted sightseers alongside the Banbury Cross monument since its unveiling by Princess Anne on April 27, 2005. It took five years to raise the £170,000 needed to create the statue, which was sculpted in Stoke-on-Trent and cast in the Welsh village of Llanrhaedr Ym Mochnant.

Banbury photographer Rosy Burke, who was on the Fine Lady appeal committee led by Jack Friswell, said: “It’s extraordinary how the public and the tourists are drawn to it.

“There were 12 Americans that had come to see the Fine Lady yesterday. This morning when I went back, there was a Burmese woman there; she said ‘Happy Birthday’ in Burmese. I took a posy of flowers and attached a card to her foot.”

Every detail on the Fine Lady tells its own story. ‘Fine’ itself comes from Finn, an old English word meaning ‘White’.

Flowers in particular take on a great significance; the seven bluebells on her toes denote constancy and the days of the week, and the 13 flowers in her crown represent the thirteen months of the year in the ancient calendar. Petals scattered from her hand bring prosperity.