Chapter IV: Part 4

The preaching cross at Iron Acton (Fig. 144) stands in the north part of the churchyard, and is a very good example of its kind. The base, 10 ft. 9 in. in diameter at the ground level, consists of three brick-built steps, topped with stone slabs, forming drips with a slight overhang. These steps are octagonal on plan. Upon the second step (and thus encompassing the top step and the low stone plinth resting on the same) stand the piers of the cross. The piers are buttressed each with one diagonal buttress, like the cross itself, square on plan. The arched openings (2 ft. 11 in. wide) are obtuse headed. One arch (the northern one according to Lysons, the southern one according to Charles Pooley) is open from top to bottom to make an entrance doorway. The three others are railed in with a low fence, composed of a pair of arches, cusped in the head, beneath a transom. The mullions between these small arches had disappeared previously to 1868; so the present mullions are modern restorations. The ceiling within is vaulted, with ribs and sculptured bosses, some of the latter representing acorns and oak leaves. In the centre, forming a pendant, are the remains of a capital of an octagonal shaft, now perished, though the traces of its footing on the floor were remarked by Charles Pooley in, or shortly before, 1868. The whole cross upward from the springing level of the principal arches is sadly mutilated, all the pinnacles, as well as the statues, wanting. The total height of that which survives of the cross is 19 ft. 2 in. The upper part is a shaft with four panelled sides, having, at the foot of each, between a pair of shields borne by demi-angels clad in albs, a pedestal for a standing statue, with projecting canopy overhead. Of these eight shields four exhibit emblems of the Passion; two are blank and two are armorial. One of these last is quarterly per fesse dancetty argent and gules, Acton; while the other shield is Acton as before, impaling quarterly or and gules a bend argent, Fitz-Nichol. Robert Poyntz, lord of the manor of Iron Acton, married, for second wife, Catherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Fitz-Nichol, and died on 15th June 1439. The cross, then, dates from the early part of the fifteenth century.

Contiguous to the ancient house of the order within the city of Hereford stands the Black Friars' Cross (Fig. 143), which apparently dates from the reign of Richard II. It is hexagonal on plan, and is mounted on steps. Its six arches were all open down to the bottom in 1806, but were fenced in some time previously to 1875, after the manner of those of the Iron Acton preaching cross. In the middle is a hexagonal socket, its sides panelled with Gothic panel-work. From the top of the socket rises a central shaft from which springs the vaulting of the roof. The cornice is embattled, and from the midst rose the stump of the shaft, now replaced by a modern shaft and cross. The whole structure has, in fact, been completely renovated since 1875.

Besides those above named there is a small class of open crosses, which, though not built for the purpose of preaching crosses, yet resemble the latter more than any others, and must therefore, from the point of view of design and construction, be grouped under the same head. These, then, comprise the crosses of Bristol, Holbeach (Lincolnshire), Leighton Buzzard (Bedfordshire), and lastly Winchester.

The High Cross at Bristol (Fig. 9) stood at the junction of four main thoroughfares: Broad Street, Wine Street, Corn Street, and High Street. The site had already been occupied by a cross, when a new cross was erected in 1373. The cross of that date was constructed of coarse-grained oolite, specially liable to absorb moisture; but the original paint (blue and vermilion with gilding) effectually preserved it from the weather for centuries. Above the arches of the lowest stage was a stage comprising four niches, which were eventually filled with statuary, standing figures, facing toward the four cardinal points. A statue of King John faced northward, Henry III. eastward, Edward III. westward, and Edward IV. southward. The cross was taken down in 1633, to be erected on an enlarged scale, its height, by the addition of an extra stage or storey, attaining to a total of 39 ft. 6 in. The new storey contained four seated figures, representing, respectively, King Henry VI. facing eastward, Queen Elizabeth facing westward, King James I. southward, and Charles I. northward. Above these, again, was a tier of armorial shields, with pairs of _putti_ for supporters, obviously an addition of the same period, viz., Charles I.'s reign. Then also was the cross embellished with fresh painting and gilding, and encircled with an iron railing to protect its lowest stage. The latter consisted of four open arches, grouped about a central shaft. The cross was redecorated in 1697. It was subsequently taken down in 1733. Its remains were then carted to the Guild Hall, whence, after a short interval, they were taken and set up in the College Green, to north of the cathedral. There it was standing in 1737, when R. West made the drawing, which was engraved and published in 1743. The cross in its new position was painted to look like grey marble, with the ornaments gilt, and the figures tinted in their natural colours. Not many years later, viz., in 1763, it was again taken down, and its portions relegated to an obscure corner of the cathedral. Finally, Dean Barton gave the remains to Sir Richard Colt Hoare, of Stourton, who transported them, in August 1766, and set up the cross once more, with a new base, summit, and central pier in the gardens of Stourhead, Wiltshire.

The cross at Holbeach was pulled down in 1683, but Dr William Stukeley made a drawing of it, dated 1722 (Fig. 10). The structure thus depicted appears to have been pentagonal on plan, four steps supporting the piers, which were buttressed with buttresses, square on plan, panelled on their outward face, and surmounted by pinnacles. The open arches were four-centred. The roof underneath was vaulted with lierne and tierceron ribs, having carved bosses at the intersections. Above the arches was a parapet or frieze, comprising on each side a shield between two quatrefoils. Above, in the midst, rose a huge crocketed pinnacle, forming the shaft for the cross which originally crowned the summit.

The Market Cross at Leighton Buzzard (Figs. 146, 147), also, is remarkable in being pentagonal on plan. Apart from the difficulty of treating a five-sided structure satisfactorily, the design is faulty, because the upper stage of the cross (admirable though it be, _per se_, with its statuary, its flying buttresses, and its exquisite cluster of pinnacles) altogether lacks coherent continuity with the open stage beneath, the latter finishing abruptly with a pronounced horizontal break, which divides the cross into two distinct parts, upper and lower. The piers are buttressed and the arches four-centred. Above the latter runs a frieze of masks, surmounted by crenellation. The cross stands on a base of five steps, and is 27 ft. high. The total height, including the weathercock, is 38 ft. The original figures, representing the Blessed Virgin and Child, a Bishop, St John Evangelist, Christ, and a King, were taken down in 1852 and replaced by modern replicas. Fortunately, the old figures were preserved for the embellishment of the Town Hall, and when the architect, G. F. Bodley, repaired the cross in 1900, he restored them to their proper position. The modern copies were, at the same time, set up against the outside walls of the Town Hall, where they still remain. Mr Bodley assigned the cross to the late-fourteenth or early-fifteenth century. If this be somewhat too early, the cross can hardly be of later date than the middle of the fifteenth century.

The Butter Cross, at Winchester (Fig. 145), stands on the pavement alongside the High Street, at the point whence a narrow lane leads to the north-west angle of the cathedral churchyard. The cross is remarkable for its lightness and the gracefulness of its proportions. It is mounted on five octagonal steps; it is square on plan, and is enhanced by pinnacles and two tiers of flying buttresses. The open arches of the lowest stage are four-centred, and surround a central shaft. The next stage above forms an open tabernacle for statues, of which, however, by 1741, only one original figure, 5 ft. 10 in. high, survived. The cross measures between 45 and 50 ft. in height; and dates, apparently, from the second half of the fifteenth century, but has been sadly over-restored.

VI. MARKET CROSSES

"The general intent of market crosses," as defined by Bishop Milner, was twofold, viz., religious and ethical--first, "to incite public homage to the religion of Christ crucified," and secondly, "to inspire men with a sense of morality and piety amidst the ordinary transactions of life." This being so, "every town had its cross, at which engagements, whether of a religious or worldly interest, were entered into," says another writer, Brady. It would seem that, at first, there was no difference of form between the market or village cross and the normal churchyard cross of shaft-on-steps type. But as the need developed of providing for the greater comfort and convenience of folk gathered round the cross for market business, the demand was met by erecting a penthouse roof about the lower part of the already existing cross. Such a transformation is known to have taken place at Norwich, and obviously also must have been effected at Castle Combe in Wiltshire, Bingley in Yorkshire, and at Axbridge and Cheddar in Somersetshire. This method of adaptation, however, cannot have proved entirely satisfactory, because the platform or steps of the shaft in such cases occupied too much of the space beneath the shelter. And so the distinctive form of market cross was evolved at length, planned from the outset as a cross and roof combined in one coherent structure, the base of the central shaft being surrounded by a footing of only a single step, a convenient bench to sit upon, instead of the old-fashioned high flight of graduated steps. Such a typical market cross might be built either of stone or of timber work, its essential feature always being the covered in space for shelter from the weather.

MARKET CROSS]

In Wells, at the junction of Sadler Street with the High Street, stood a cross, which must have been the most beautiful of all structures of its kind. As represented in the prospect of the city, drawn by William Simes, in 1735 (Fig. 149), it was a Gothic work of singular richness and elegance. Its bottom storey consisted of two-centred arches between buttressed piers surmounted by pinnacles, with a parapet of open tracery. The upper portion consisted of a lantern of two diminishing stages, with late-Gothic traceried windows and parapets, with pinnacles at the angles, the lower one of the two stages connected with the ground storey by flying buttresses. The whole was crowned by a most gracefully tapered spire, terminating in a weathercock. This exquisite monument was swept away by order of the Corporation, December 1785, on the ground that part of the cross having "lately fallen down, and the remainder being in a ruinous state and dangerous," the entire cross must be demolished, and its materials carried elsewhere to some convenient place. This cross obviously dated from the middle of the fifteenth century or even earlier, and was, doubtless, the same cross, referred to by Bishop Beckington (1443-64), in his charter providing for the conveyance of water by conduit "to the high cross in the market place." Nevertheless, it has been identified by at least two writers, Charles Pooley and Alex. Gordon, with a cross which the antiquary Leland relates that he saw in process of construction. Leland describes this cross as having two concentric rings, an outer ring or "circumference" of seven pillars, and an inner "circumference" of six pillars, with a vaulted ceiling under the _Domus Civica_. This particular building was completed in 1542. It was erected by Bishop William Knight, with the help of a bequest from Dean Richard Woolman. But the cross of Simes' map must have been, at least, a century earlier in date than the cross of 1542, the account of which tallies neither in architectural style nor in shape with the other. In the one illustrated, there is no sign of two concentric arcades, while the lantern storey is far too small ever to have served for the headquarters of the municipal body. The discrepancies, in short, are such that one is driven to the conclusion that there must have been, at one and the same time, two separate crosses at Wells. It should be added that the tolls of the market cross, which he built, were given, by Bishop Knight's will, "for the use of the choristers of the Cathedral Church for ever."

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

The Market Cross of Axbridge, Somersetshire (Fig. 148), illustrated, after a painting of the year 1756, in a communication from George Bennett to the _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1805, was demolished in or about 1770. The structure appears to have been hexagonal on plan. Its piers were buttressed, its arches four-centred. The surrounding parapet was of pierced Gothic tracery, interrupted by a pinnacle over each of the piers. The roof was conical, with a lofty vane. The height to which the steps within, beneath the central shaft, rose, suggests that this was an instance where the cross must have been in existence first, and the shelter a subsequent addition.

INSCRIPTION ON MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS, WITH PLAN AND DETAIL]

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

At Shepton Mallet a market cross (Fig. 152) was erected in 1500 by private benefaction, as recorded on the original engraved brass, or latten plate, attached to the structure. The text of the inscription (see Fig. 151) (in modernised spelling) is as follows: "Of your charity pray for the souls of Walter Buckland, and Agnes his wife, with whose goods this cross was made in the year of our Lord God, 1500, whose obit shall be kept for ever in this parish church of Shepton Mallet, the 28th day of November, whose souls Jesu pardon." "There are certain lands, apparently a part of the Bucklands' bequest, the revenues of which are devoted to keeping the cross in repair, any surplus being distributed among the poor. This 'Cross Charity,'" as it is called, "was formerly administered by trustees, but has recently"--the passage was written in 1907--"been transferred to the Urban Council. The title-deeds have long been lost; and some years ago the Charity Commissioners were inclined to" alienate "the property from the cross." The trustees, however, tenaciously fulfilled their obligations, "and from 1841 onwards, if not before, kept the cross in thorough repair." (Dr F. J. Allen.) The character of the cross has been so much changed from time to time by reconstruction and misrestoration, that it has now become impossible to determine what the ancient design really was; but it seems to have consisted of a shelter very like that formerly at Axbridge, with a central spire like that formerly at Taunton (Fig. 155). From the presence of pinnacles at the angles there can be deduced but one logical conclusion, viz., that the piers must have been, and should yet be, buttressed. The buttresses, however, have completely disappeared. The frequent traffic of heavy vehicles--for the market was once much busier than it has become since the introduction of the railway--would probably have damaged the projecting buttresses; and their omission, therefore, curtailing the extent of the area occupied by the cross, may have been designed to lessen the liability of the latter to collisions with market carts. It is supposed that the top of the central spire fell in the eighteenth century, damaging the substructure. Anyhow, at some time in the seventeenth, or in the early part of the eighteenth century, the hexagonal shelter was taken down from around the central pier (which still remains intact), and was then rebuilt in its present form, portions only of the old Gothic parapet, and the pinnacles, being re-used. This rebuilding has escaped record, but that it did take place the internal evidence of the structure itself makes sufficiently obvious. The absence, already mentioned, of buttresses; the clumsy, square blocks which do duty for the bases of the piers; the classic imposts of the latter, and the depressed arches (unconstructional, because they are not turned with voussoirs, but formed each of one huge pair of stones, cambered to simulate an arch in outline), and the exaggeratedly prominent keystones, could never have been perpetrated at the early date of 1500, but at some subsequent rebuilding, of which the sum of them affords cumulative and convincing proof. Charles Pooley (_Old Stone Crosses of Somerset_, 1877) states that the cross was rebuilt from the ground in 1841: but he was clearly mistaken. Dr F. J. Allen, of Cambridge, is positive on this point. His grandfather, as one of the trustees of the Shepton Mallet cross, was largely responsible for the rebuilding in question; and his own mother and uncle, living as children in their father's house, facing the cross, were eye-witnesses of the progress of the work, and could distinctly remember that only the spire above the roof was reconstructed. Minor repairs may have been done at the same time to the rest of the building, but it was certainly not taken down bodily. The architect employed was G. B. Manners, of Bath; and it is claimed that his design for the modern spire is a careful reproduction of the original one. To what extent this is the case may perhaps be judged by comparing the spire actually standing with an illustration, which appeared in the _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1781, from a drawing made in 1747. The latter may be faulty, but, such as it is, its value as a record can scarcely be overrated, since it furnishes the earliest extant version of Shepton Mallet cross. The accompanying letterpress says: "On the top of the cross, on the east side, are figures in niches, and, above all, a modern weathercock." The engraving, it is true, shows figures on more sides of the head than one; but the discrepancy need not be material, if one may conjecture that all the figures, other than those on the east side, had perished in the interval between 1747 and 1781. In any event the massive, carved stone cylinder, depicted as capping the spire in 1747, cannot have been the original cross-head of 1500, which, according to Pooley, was "a heavy, lantern-shaped stone, bearing figures of our Saviour on the cross between two malefactors, besides the images of several saints." This cross-head was probably removed at the time of the rebuilding of the shelter; and the cross-head which succeeded it is most likely the same one which fell, as already mentioned, in the eighteenth century. Pooley concludes his notice of Shepton Mallet cross thus: "Some of the fragments of the old cross I saw lying in a builder's yard at Darshill," a hamlet in Shepton Mallet parish. "A grandson of that builder," writes Dr F. J. Allen, in September 1919, "now living at Shepton, states that he can well remember his grandfather selling a selection of those fragments to Lord Portman, who removed them to his house at Blandford."

MARKET CROSS, WITH SECTION]

PLAN OF MARKET CROSS]

At Malmesbury, Wiltshire, there stands, some 200 ft. directly south of the south end of the old transept of the Abbey Church, and about 50 ft. east of the south-east angle of St Paul's Parish Church, a handsome market cross (Figs. 156, 157, 158) of the same type as those of Cheddar, Chichester, and Salisbury. The following is Leland's account of the cross: "There is a right fair and costly piece of work in the market place, made all of stone, and curiously vaulted, for poor market folks to stand dry when rain cometh. There be eight great pillars, and eight open arches, and the work is eight square (octagonal). One great pillar in the middle beareth up the vault. The men of the town made this piece of work _in hominum memoria_ (within living memory)." Leland wrote between about 1535 and 1545; and the date assigned to the cross is 1490. With regard to the open arches it would be more accurate to state that two only of the number are open to the ground. The six others are confined at the bottom by a low fence-wall. "A deeply moulded flying buttress rises from each pier, clear of the richly-groined roof, the light ribs being drawn into a cluster by a wide string-band supporting a large pinnacle and ogee finial. This pinnacle bears traces of sculptured figures, and, on the west face, of a crucifix; but the faces of the work are much abraded by the weather, and perhaps rough treatment, for most of the bosses have been broken from the groined vault."

POULTRY, OR MARKET CROSS]

POULTRY CROSS, AS RESTORED]

MARKET CROSS, WITH SECTION]

PLAN OF MARKET CROSS]

The Market Cross at Chichester (Figs. 11, 161-163) was built shortly before 1500 by Bishop Edward Storey, who endowed it with an estate at Amberley, Sussex, producing a yearly rental of £25, that the means for keeping the cross in constant repair might be assured. It is octagonal on plan, its eight arches all open to the ground. This is much the most elaborately ornamented of the crosses of its class. The flying buttresses (unlike those of Malmesbury cross) are crocketed at intervals all the way along their ogee course; and the side walls above the arches are richly panelled. Splendid though Chichester cross is still, it has been shamefully disfigured by incongruous innovations intruding upon the original design. It was probably at the "restoration," under Charles II., that the bust of Charles I. was set up in an oval recess, inserted in the place of one of the niches of the parapet. The clock above was fixed in 1724. Again the cross suffered excessive repair, and further alterations in 1746.

In the case of the market crosses of Chichester and Malmesbury the ring of pinnacles and the flying buttresses, converging upon the central shaft, itself culminating in a sculptured lantern, resemble in general effect the crown steeples of King's College, Aberdeen, and of the collegiate church of St Giles at Edinburgh. But there is a difference. In the Scottish instances the lantern is structurally upheld by the combined thrust of the flying buttresses, without vertical support. In the English market crosses, on the contrary, the shaft, rising from the floor and passing right up through the roof, sustains the lantern from directly underneath.

Salisbury Poultry Cross (Figs. 159, 160) must originally have been constructed in the same way, but, some time before May 1789 (see illustration in _Archæologia_, Vol. IX., p. 373) the whole of the original superstructure above the roof had perished. The pinnacles, flying buttresses, and lantern, which now crown the roof, are only a modern restoration, albeit a very excellent one. The plan of the Poultry Cross is hexagonal. In addition to this cross there are known to have existed at one time in Salisbury the Cheese Cross, Bernard's Cross, and that before the west door of the cathedral. One of the number was erected by Lawrence de St Martino, as a penance enjoined before September 1388, by Bishop Radulph Ergham because Lawrence, who was infected with Lollardism, had been guilty of flagrant irreverence toward the Blessed Sacrament. To complete his penance he was required to come and kneel in the open air, barefoot and bareheaded, before the said cross every Saturday for the rest of his life. A record of his offence and of its punishment was to be inscribed upon the cross itself, and, assuming this penance cross to be the actually existing market cross, it has been conjectured that the six panelled sides of its central pillar bore the required text. But the identity is very doubtful, more especially as 1388 seems too early a date, by some hundred years, for the Poultry Cross.

The old Market Cross at Glastonbury (Fig. 164) has unfortunately disappeared. The shelter was octagonal and gabled. But the singular feature of the design was that the gables, instead of surmounting the arched openings, were placed over the spandrels and the piers between the arches. Conformably, then, with the canted plan of the structure, the face of each gable was returned at an angle from its central vertical line, a simple but quite unusual device, which produced a remarkably quaint and original effect. The picturesqueness was enhanced by the presence hard by of a water conduit, which grouped charmingly with the more imposing structure of the market cross. Both, however, becoming dilapidated through neglect, were demolished in 1808.

At Norwich (Fig. 153) the first market cross was erected in the time of Edward III. (1327-37). It is known to have been repaired in the reign of Henry IV. (1399-1413). The structure must have been of considerable size, since it contained a chapel and four shops. Becoming decayed, it was pulled down in 1501, and rebuilt, the new cross being finished in 1503. Like its predecessor, it contained an oratory or chapel. It was octagonal, raised on steps, and appears to have been originally an instance, on a large scale, of a spire-shaped cross with an entrance on the west side between two vices leading to the upper storeys. In the seventeenth century, apparently, the cross was surrounded by sixteen pillars, _i.e._, eight large and eight intermediate pillars of slenderer size, to support a flat leaded roof for the shelter of the market people--an addition which totally altered the aspect of the original spire-shaped cross. Meanwhile, in the first year of Edward VI., the crucifixes which had adorned the cross were taken down by order of the King's visitors. The standard weights and measures of the city used to be kept in the market cross. The oratory in it was let in 1574 to the company of workers in leather. In 1646 the cross was repaired by means of a graduated tax, levied on all the citizens in proportion to their means. In 1646, also, the floor of the cross was paved. In 1664 it was appointed for the Court of Guard, and in 1672 was "beautified and adorned" according to the fashion of the day. Just sixty years afterwards the cross was again alleged to be in decay, its materials were sold and the whole cross swept away, the demolition beginning in August 1732.

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

At Lichfield (Fig. 154), the Market Cross, octagonal on plan, with two-centred open arches, and with figures by way of pinnacles at the angles of the parapet, was erected at the cost of Dean Denton (1521-32).

At Northampton, the Market Cross (Fig. 150) was erected in 1535. It stood upon an octagonal platform of stone, 2 ft. in height, and comprised eight wooden columns, the entire surface of their cylindrical shafts carved, supporting the pointed arches of the octagonal shelter. "And the timbers from one pillar to the next pillar were arched and carved. In the middle (of the platform) were three steps or rounds of stone to sit upon," as well as for means of approach on one side to the doorway which, "locked from market to market," gave access to the stairway curtained within the cylindrical shaft of stone rising in the centre. This shaft terminated above the roof in a lantern with glazed windows, within which were deposited the standard weights and measures, and other utensils connected with the market. There was ample room to walk round upon the lead-covered roof between the lantern and the embattled parapet. The latter was ornamented at every angle of the octagon with a standard, or post, surmounted by a little ape holding a rod with a vane attached. "The whole was set out and beautified with branches of lead, and, upon all squares (faces) little panels of lead like coats of arms gilt, and a great ornament to the place." The cross, unfortunately, perished in the general conflagration at Northampton, on 20th September 1675.

MARKET CROSS]

The old Market Cross at Taunton, Somersetshire, apparently dated from about the middle of the sixteenth century. It was hexagonal on plan, with pointed arches springing from columns, presumably cylindrical, with polygonal bases. Above the arches was a penthouse roof of boarding, designed, no doubt, to augment the area of the shelter beneath. The top of the walls was crenellated, with pinnacles at the angles. The central shaft rose into two diminishing tiers of niches for statues. The original top having vanished, its place was taken by a square block with sundials on the faces, with an ogee roof surmounted by a weathercock. The cross was demolished in 1769, but its general appearance is perpetuated by a very rough drawing in the British Museum (Fig. 155).

MARKET CROSS, WITH DETAILS OF WOOD CARVING]

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS, WITH PLAN, SECTION, AND DETAILS]

The Market Cross at Cheddar, Somersetshire (Fig. 165), is a stone structure of six four-centred open arches and shelter, evidently built up round an older cross of the shaft-on-steps type. The shaft, which dates from the fifteenth century, is octagonal, and, with its knop, rears through the top of the roof. The piers of the surrounding arches are buttressed and the parapet is embattled. Extensive renewing took place in 1834, and the steps were repaired in 1835.

The Market Cross at Somerton, Somersetshire (Fig. 166), which may be compared with that of Cheddar, was built in 1673, a surprisingly late date in view of the character of the cross itself. The latter is octagonal, with pyramidal roof of eight cants; its piers are buttressed, and, above a stringcourse with gargoyles at the outer angles, rises an embattled parapet. So closely, indeed, are the forms of architectural tradition adhered to, that, but for the segmental arches with their heavy keystones, one would have had little hesitation in assigning the cross to the first half of the sixteenth century.

At Maidstone (Fig. 167), the Market Cross, or as it was formerly called, from its original purpose, the Corn Cross, stood at the top of High Street in the centre of the roadway. The date of its erection is unknown, but it is thought to have been about the middle of the sixteenth century, at the time of the incorporation of the borough by Edward VI. A sketch, ascribed to Cornelius Jansen, drawn upon ass's skin and dated 1623--the property, through the Bosville family, of J. H. Baverstock--shows the cross to have been an octagonal structure with an umbrella-like roof, covered apparently with slates, and surmounted by a leaden cross. Later drawings and paintings show that the arches were four-centred, and supported on clustered wooden shafts, and that, in place of the cross on the top, there had been substituted a lead-covered dome, or cupola, from the summit of which rose a pole of turned wood. In the spandrels of the arches were curious carvings illustrative of a butcher's calling. About 1608 it was converted into the butcher's market. The cross, says William Newton in his _Antiquities of Maidstone_, 1741, "appears to have been very large; but only a part of it is now remaining, which is handsomely covered with lead, and used for the fish market." In 1771 it was considered to be an obstruction to the traffic, and was accordingly moved on rollers a slight distance to the side of the street, just below the square stone conduit shown in the illustration; but it did not stand there very long, for it was finally demolished in 1780.

YARN-MARKET CROSS]

BUTTER CROSS, WITH DETAIL OF THE INTERIOR]

MARKET CROSS, WITH DETAIL OF THE GROUND-FLOOR STOREY]

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

THE MALT CROSS]

At Leicester, the last remains of the ancient cross were cleared away in 1569. Meanwhile, a successor to it had been built in 1557. This new Market Cross (Fig. 12) was octagonal on plan, having open arches on pillars and a cupola roof. In its turn it was demolished between 1769 and 1773.

At Ipswich, a preaching cross, erected in 1510 by Edmund Daundy, Bailiff of the town, and said to be a near relative of Cardinal Wolsey, is believed to have occupied the same spot on the Cornhill, where subsequently, in 1628, the market cross was built (Figs. 169-172). The latter was projected, at least, as early as 1610, when Benjamin Osborne promised £50, which, by will dated June 1619, he bequeathed toward the building. But it was not until 1628 that the Corporation managed to obtain any payment from his executors, and then the sum available from his estate was £6 short of the proper amount. The figures in the inscription, recording the benefaction upon a shield in one of the spandrels, were thereupon altered from £50 to £44 (Fig. 172). The structure, 28 ft. in diameter, comprised eight stone columns, supporting elliptical arches of wood, with an embattled parapet above a cornice, elaborately carved with scrollwork and grotesques. Five masks from the old wood carving, together with the shield inscribed as above mentioned, are yet preserved in the Ipswich Museum. The roof, an ogee-shaped cupola, covered with lead, was framed into a centre post, carried on cross-beams just above the level of the eaves. The upper end of the post ran up through the middle of the roof in the form of a square terminal of four stages, the lowest part being carved with a group of figures supporting a gilt ball, like an orb, with a cross on the top. On the occasion of the Proclamation of King Charles II., on 10th May 1660, "the cross was ordered to be beautified--painted or rather emblazoned" with the arms of local celebrities. The arms included those of Ipswich borough and of the families of Daundy, Bloss, Long, and Sparrowe, as well as two tradesmen's marks, C. A., and B. K. M. The carved faces in the museum yet retain their flesh tints. In April 1694 the Corporation ordered that a new statue of Justice should be erected upon the summit of the cross. In 1723 the Corporation voted thanks to Mr Francis Nugent (who represented Ipswich in three Parliaments) for his present of a statue of Justice, which was brought from his seat at Dallinghoe. This, an allegorical figure, holding the scales, is of stone, painted brown, and also is preserved in Ipswich Museum. A sketch and plan by Sir James Thornhill (Fig. 169), in May 1711, shows that the cross at that time stood surrounded by a balustrade. The cross was pulled down bodily at the beginning of January 1812, by order of a Great Court previously held. An aquatint, from a contemporary drawing by George Frost, was published in the same year (Fig. 171).

The Market Cross at Mildenhall, Suffolk (Fig. 13), with its timber posts and lead-covered roof, dates from the fifteenth century.

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

MARKET CROSS]

The old Butter Cross at Oakham (Fig. 178) recalls that at Mildenhall, than which, however, it is probably later by a century or more. The Oakham cross is octagonal on plan, the eight oak posts which support the roof resting on blocks of stone for bases. In the centre is a solid stone pier, encircled by seats for the market women. The interior construction of the roof is a fine example of carpentry (Fig. 179).

At Oundle, Northamptonshire, stood a market cross, very like the last-named, octagonal on plan, with an eight-sided pyramidal roof, covered with Colly Weston slates, and supported by eight wooden posts (Fig. 168). The interior comprised a central shaft, with a square socket, bearing the date 1591, and mounted on two octagonal steps of stone, having overhanging drips. The cross, not mentioned by Bridges, has long since been demolished. The view is from an undated lithograph, initialled J. S.

The Market Cross at Wymondham, Norfolk (Figs. 180, 181), with its quaint timber-framed upper storey, approached by an external stair, dates from 1617. The face of the braces between the piers of the open ground-storey are carved with tops, spindles, spoons, and such like wooden ware, for the abundant manufacture of which the town had long been famous.

At Dunster, Somersetshire, the Yarn-Market Cross, as it is called, is octagonal on plan, with an immense span of roof relieved by dormers (Fig. 177). "The arrangement of the timbers, extending radially from the centre of the cross, is somewhat remarkable," writes Alex. Gordon. This cross was built about the year 1600. The weather-vane at the summit of the lantern bears the date 1647.

The Market Cross, or Butter Cross, at Witney, Oxfordshire (Fig. 14), was built, according to Joseph Skelton, by William Blake, of Coggs, in 1683. Lavish renovation has now robbed it of much of its proper charm, but the planning of the roof, with its gables facing four ways, constitutes an entirely delightful composition.

At Milverton, Somersetshire, the Market Cross, commonly called Fair Cross, was standing, and is referred to in an indenture dated March 1715 (Fig. 185). The vane bore the date 1706. Eight cylindrical columns of stone, surrounding the base and shaft of a medieval cross, sustained the shelter, above which was an upper chamber, used for storage only, access thereto being obtained by means of a ladder through the window opening in one of the sides. The chamber was covered with a slate-healed pyramid of eight cants. The cross, which, strangely enough, was in private ownership, was demolished by the proprietor himself in or about 1850.

The Market Cross at Nether Stowey, Somersetshire, was erected about 1750 on the site of an earlier cross, of which nothing but a few fragments of stone from the base had survived. The eighteenth-century structure was octagonal on plan, eight cylindrical columns supporting the eight-canted pyramidal roof, from the top of which rose a square turret, with a clock in the lower part, and a bell in the open bell-cote at the top (Fig. 184). Having been allowed to fall into dilapidation, the whole cross was swept away by the lord of the manor about 1860.

At Castle Combe, Wiltshire, the Market Cross is apparently another instance where the shelter was built up over an already existing stone cross (Figs. 173, 176). The latter has a bold, square socket, sculptured with late-Gothic tracery ornament. The shelter seems to be sixteenth-century work. Its pyramidal roof, supported on four stone piers, had lost the original summit of the cross-shaft before Buckler made his drawing of the north-west view of the cross. It was then surmounted by a sundial of the seventeenth or eighteenth century. Later restoration, however, has substituted a quasi-Gothic pinnacle.

At Lymm, Cheshire, though no market is now held there, the old Market Cross remains, a quaint and unusual structure, standing on the top of a boulder, with steps partly hewn out of the natural rock (Fig. 183). The cross is built of stone, and consists of a massive central pier, square on plan, between four smaller piers, likewise square, supporting the roof at the corners. The roof, cross-ridged, has pediments facing four ways, and surmounted each by a substantial hip-knob. On the faces of the pediments are sundials. From the centre of the roof rises a lofty weathercock with a wrought-iron frame.

The Malt Cross at Nottingham stood opposite the lower end of Sheep Lane, and is said to have been erected in 1714, although the old vane at the summit bore the date 1686. The structure, hexagonal on plan, and roofed with a cupola supported on Doric columns, was raised upon a three-foot high platform of four steps (Fig. 186). The boss surmounting the cupola had a sundial on each of its six sides. The Malt Cross was taken down, and the materials were sold by public auction in October 1804.

As the seventeenth century advanced the market cross exhibited more and more marked divergence from the original architectural forms, including the abandonment of the cross on the summit, and the adoption, in many instances, of a sundial in place of the cross. This tendency only increased in the eighteenth century. Instances of it are afforded by the market crosses--rectangular on plan--at Woodstock (Fig. 189) and Wakefield (Fig. 190). Other eighteenth-century market crosses, _e.g._, those of Bungay (1789) (Fig. 187) and Swaffham (1783) (Fig. 188), might almost be mistaken in appearance for bandstands, but from the fact that, aloft upon their lead-covered domes, the allegorical figure of Justice, emphasising the duty of fair dealing, continues to proclaim their purpose of open-air shelters for the transaction of business.

VII. UNCLASSIFIED VARIETIES

It is not easy to devise a system for the classification of crosses, which shall, without loss of precision, be both exhaustive enough and comprehensive enough to embrace every possible variety. There remain, then, a few anomalous instances which seem not to admit of inclusion in any of the categories already considered.

The first to note is Doncaster cross (Fig. 191), of which an engraving was published in _Vetusta Monumenta_, July 1753, from an old painting, formerly the property of Lord Fairfax, who sold it in 1672 to Alderman Thoresby, of Leeds. An ancient manuscript, accompanying the painting, recorded all that was known of the history of the cross. The latter bore on the shaft, at about a third of its height up from the bottom, an inscription in Norman French: "This is the cross of Ote de Tilli, on whose soul God have mercy. Amen." The said Ote de Tilli was seneschal of the Earl of Conisborough, and was a witness of the charter of foundation of Kirkstall Abbey in 1152. His name occurs in other charters of King Stephen's reign, and also of others in the reigns of Henry II. and Richard I. The cross stood at the south end of the town of Doncaster, on the London road. The shaft was 18 ft. high, and consisted of a large central cylinder with four engaged cylindrical shafts, having a total circumference of 11 ft. 7 in. It stood upon five circular steps, resting upon a hexagonal base or plinth. On the summit of the stone cross there formerly rose five slender iron crosses, the central one higher than the rest; but in 1644 the monument was defaced by the troops under the Earl of Manchester, losing its iron crosses. To make up the deficiency the mayor, in 1678, erected four dials, a ball, and vane on the top of the cross. Of not dissimilar plan is the stump of a shaft at Elstow (Fig. 192), in Bedfordshire. Again, there is a tall pillar of clustered columns in three stages at Aldborough (Fig. 193). All three examples appear to date from the thirteenth century.

CROSS NEAR THE CHURCH]

VILLAGE CROSS]

HEAD OF CROSS IN THE CHURCHYARD, SHOWING OBVERSE AND REVERSE FACES]

At Chester, where Watergate Street ends and Eastgate Street begins, and where, at the point of junction, Bridge Street leads off at a right angle southward to the Dee Bridge, there stood the High Cross on a hexagonal platform or step outside the entrance to the Pentice, which itself extended the whole length of the south side of St Peter's Church. The design of this cross was so abnormal that one is at a loss to place it under any known classification. A plain cylindrical column supported an immense and lofty superstructure, exceeding the height of shaft and socket put together, and consisting of a double-storeyed lantern, with two tiers of niches for statues surrounding it. The whole was surmounted by an orb and cross, but the drawing by Randle Holme the third, among the Harleian manuscripts at the British Museum (Fig. 24), gives two alternative details to finish off the summit, viz., a crucifix, or a crowned shield of the royal arms. The High Cross was newly gilded in 1529. It was overthrown and defaced by the Puritans in 1646, or, according to another account, in 1648. "In 1804 the remains were discovered buried in the porch of St Peter's Church, and were taken to Netherleigh House, and there used to form a kind of ornamental rockwork in the gardens." The late Archdeacon Barber, writing in 1910, says that in the Grosvenor Museum at Chester there is a plain stone block, which, though without any of the richly sculptured ornament depicted by Holme, purports to be the head of the ancient cross, while "the shaft is said to be in the grounds of Plas Newydd, at Llangollen."

BASE IN THE CHURCHYARD]

There is, again, a certain type of cross which cannot exactly be classified under any of the previously described varieties. The type in question, as exemplified at Alphington (Fig. 199) and at St Loye's, Wonford, near Exeter (Fig. 198), appears to be peculiar to Devonshire. At first sight the cross looks much like a variety of monolith, but the cross-head is in fact worked in a separate block of stone. The shortness of the arms, as compared with the height of the upper limb, is striking. Another feature is a small niche or hollow sunk in the face of the cross at the point of intersection. For the rest, the socket does not differ at all from many examples occurring in the shaft-on-steps group.

The cross-head at Mitton, Yorkshire (Figs. 194, 195), is peculiar inasmuch as the crucifixion is sculptured on both faces, but in totally different fashions. That on the west face has the arms stretched horizontally, within a sexfoil frame, and might well be of the thirteenth century. Whereas the sculpture on the east face, though much more weatherworn, is of a style that could not have been designed before the late-fourteenth, or perhaps even the fifteenth century. The arms of the Christ in this instance are drawn upwards in an unusually oblique direction. It is impossible that these two representations could have been executed at one and the same date. The circular outline of the head, too, is peculiar, and suggestive rather of a gable-cross than of a standing cross. Possibly the west face only was sculptured in the first instance, for a gable-cross, the sculpture on the east face being added later in order to adapt the stone for the head of a churchyard cross. Anyhow, since Buckler's drawings were made, the head has been mounted on a modern shaft and pedestal.

MONUMENT IN THE CHURCHYARD]

A very strange socket, comprising two stages, both cylindrical with a slight batter, stands to the north of the church in the churchyard at Ripley, Yorkshire (Fig. 196). The topmost stage is about 2 ft. 3½ in. high, and the diameter of its upper bed is 2 ft. 9 in. It has had sunk into it, from the shaft of a cross, a mortise 8½ in. deep by 18 in. by 10 in. The bottom stage is 2 ft. high by about 4 ft. 8 in., the diameter of its upper bed, which varies from 6 to 7½ in. wider all round than the foot of the upper stage. A most peculiar feature is the series of eight cavities averaging 6 in. deep and from 14 to 17 in. high, by 7 to 10½ in. wide at the top. It cannot be that these cavities were receptacles for offerings, for eight of them would be largely in excess of any reasonable requirements of alms-gathering. It has been called a "weeping cross" on the supposition that the hollows were meant for penitents to kneel in. But this again cannot be, for the spaces available are not nearly large enough for such a purpose. It may be that the bottom stage of the Ripley cross is, after all, nothing else than the inverted bowl of a font, and the hollows surrounding it niches for statuary. The problem, however, is one which has not hitherto been satisfactorily explained.

DEVONSHIRE]

At Bisley, Gloucestershire, in the west end of the churchyard, stands a singular structure of stone, of early-thirteenth-century work (Fig. 197). Circular on plan at the foot and hexagonal above, it now measures about 12 ft. high, the original cross or finial at the apex having disappeared. This monument has been variously described as a cross, a well-head, or a bone-house. Probably it is rather a combination between a cross (for with such it must almost certainly have been crowned) and a lantern for the "poor souls' light." The trefoil-headed openings in each cant seem designed expressly for emitting the light of a lamp burning within, while the dormer-like hoods of the said openings would shelter the flame from wind and rain. Such lantern pillars are known to have been in use in the Middle Ages, though they have very rarely survived to our own times. There exists, however, a fine example of late-fourteenth or early-fifteenth century work, standing outside the north-east part of the Dom at Regensburg, in Bavaria.

VIII. LYCHGATES

Lychgates are so named from the old Anglo-Saxon word _lich_, or German _leiche_, meaning corpse, because they stood at the entrance of the churchyard, where the bearers of the dead might deposit their burden, and rest awhile before passing through, and into the church for the solemn funeral rites. Some lychgates are actually provided with a long flat slab for this very purpose, as is the case, for instance, at Ashprington and Atherington, both in Devonshire, and at Chiddingfold, Surrey (Fig. 227). Usually also they are fitted with benches.

The rubric of the Prayer Book of 1549 directed that the officiating minister at funerals should go to meet the corpse at the "church style," _i.e._, lychgate; and again, according to the Prayer Book now in use (of the year 1662), the clergyman and the clerks meeting the corpse "at the entrance of the churchyard" (_i.e._, at the lychgate, wherever one exists), there begin the burial service, and thence precede the body into the church.

In some places, as at Heston and Hayes, in Middlesex, and at Chalfont St Giles, the entrance gates form turnstiles, being fixed to a central post, which revolves on a pivot.

There is hardly scope for any very great variety of types in lychgates, but they may be classified generally under certain main groups, viz., first, the porch-shape, in which the roof-ridge has the same axis as the passage way; secondly, the shed-like form, in which the roof-ridge runs transversely to the axial line of the passage way; thirdly, a rare variety, embodying both the previous features, and such that is exemplified by the charming lychgate at Clun, Shropshire (Fig. 235), where two roof-ridges cross one another at right angles; or at Berrynarbor, Devonshire, where the lychgate is on the plan of a cross; and, lastly, lychgates formed by the combination of the requisite passage way with a church house or other building. To this class belongs the entrance to the churchyard at Penshurst, Kent, an example well known and admired for its picturesqueness. Other instances are those of Hartfield in Sussex (Fig. 201), Long Compton in Warwickshire, Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire (Fig. 204), and Bray in Berkshire (Figs. 202, 203). The last-named specimen is of exceptional interest, not only because it contains an ancient chapel, but also because it bears, on one of the uprights of the entrance, the date of its construction, 1448, a most unusual circumstance. The penthouse gallery, shown on the left of the photograph, is a modern addition. It will also be noticed, on comparison of the two illustrations, that the west window of the old chapel-chamber has, since 1879, been robbed of some of its mullions, and now consists of three lights only.

Two Welsh examples of lychgates, with a room built over each, are enumerated by the Rev. Elias Owen, in 1886, viz., Derwen, Denbighshire, where the upper storey is utilised for parochial purposes, and Whitford, Flintshire, where it served as a schoolroom. Latterly, "when the school increased in numbers, the lychgate was blocked up and formed into a class-room" in addition to the upper part. The same writer remarks that a fully equipped lychgate includes seats, a lychcross and a lychstone. As a rule, both lychcrosses and lychstones "have disappeared ... but underneath the roof of Caerwys (Flintshire) lychgate are still to be seen the beam and socket, where once stood the wooden lychcross, and on the ground are traceable the foundation stones of the two lychseats, and of the lychstone in the centre of the porch. This rest for the coffin was a low wall" of about a coffin's length. Some of the distinctive features of lychgates were destroyed in the eighteenth century. Thus "the beam that stretched from wall to wall," and had a wooden cross inserted into it, "has, in nearly every instance, been sawn away." The above-named example at Caerwys, however, according to the _Inventory_ of the Royal Commission, still survives. The place was visited in July 1910, and the report runs: "Within the covered lychgate is a pre-Reformation oak frame, the two uprights supporting a beam in which a cross was fixed," the ancient custom having been to set down corpses on their way to burial upon the lychstone immediately beneath this cross.