Malmesbury Market Cross is a Grade I listed, late 15th century structure in the town of

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

, Wiltshire, England. __NOTOC__

Description

The

market cross A market cross, or in Scots, a mercat cross, is a structure used to mark a market square in market towns, where historically the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by the monarch, a bishop or a baron. History Market crosses ...

stands in the centre of the town, at the north end of the High Street. It was built c.1490, possibly using

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

salvaged from the recently ruined part of Malmesbury Abbey, which then began just across the market square from the cross. An elaborately carved octagonal structure of the

Perpendicular Period Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-ce ...

, it is recognised as one of the best preserved of its kind in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, and was made a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in 1949. A carving in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

of the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

and figures of several saints have survived the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

on the open

lantern A lantern is an often portable source of lighting, typically featuring a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle or a oil lamp, wick in oil, and often a battery-powered light in modern timesto make it easier to ca ...

, although the lower niches for figures are now empty. Inside there is a lierne vaulted roof with carved bosses, springing from a central column with stone seating around it. There is a low wall or bench across all the outside arches except two. The building is over 40 ft. high, and today is nicknamed "the Birdcage", because of its appearance, and still serves to shelter market traders by day and as a meeting point at night. It was described by John Leland, who visited Malmesbury in 1542, as follows:

Malmesbyri hath a good quik ivelymarket kept every Saturday. There is a right fair and costeley peace of worke in the market place made all of stone and curiusly voultid for poore market folkes to stande dry when rayne cummith. Ther be 8 great pillers and 8 open arches: and the work is 8 square: one great piller in the midle berith up the voulte. The men of the toun made this peace of work ''in hominum memoria'' ithin living memory

The cross was renovated in about 1800 at the expense of

John Howard, 15th Earl of Suffolk General John Howard, 15th Earl of Suffolk, 8th Earl of Berkshire, FSA (7 March 1739 – 23 January 1820) was a British soldier and nobleman. Howard was the third (but second surviving) son of Capt. Philip Howard of the Royal Marines, grandson ...

, and subsequently repaired in 1909–12 and 1949–50. In 1879–80, the

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) (also known as Anti-Scrape) is an amenity society founded by William Morris, Philip Webb, and others in 1877 to oppose the destructive 'restoration' of ancient buildings occurring in ...

(in its third year of existence) sent two council members who drew up a report of the repairs needed for Lord Northwick, who owned the cross, but it is not clear what was done. Morris, William, ''Art and Architecture: Essays 1870–1884'', 2003, (that section reprinted from the SPAB's 3rd Annual Report, printed in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' in 1880.)
google books
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pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...

knocked off by a heavy goods vehicle in recent years is in the Athelstan Museum in the town.

Related structures

An even more elaborate covered market cross in a similar style is the Chichester Cross;

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

once had another, in a lighter Renaissance style, but this survives only in old prints.

References

{{commons category Malmesbury Grade I listed buildings in Wiltshire Market crosses in England Tudor architecture