The Market Cross in

Oakham Oakham is a market town and civil parish in Rutland (of which it is the county town) in the East Midlands of England. The town is located east of Leicester, southeast of Nottingham and northwest of Peterborough. It had a population of 12,14 ...

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

, England, is a

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 ...

dating from the 16th or 17th century. Market crosses, also termed butter crosses, may derive from the

high crosses A high cross or standing cross (, , ) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. Th ...

or free-standing stones of the

Early Mediaeval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Middle Ages of Europ ...

period. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

they were often used as gathering points in the centres of communities, generally as venues for regular

markets Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market *Marketing, the act of sat ...

. Beneath the cross is a set of

stocks Stocks are feet and hand restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law de ...

. Both are Grade I listed structures and the group forms a

Scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

History and description

Market crosses can be found in the centres of many British towns and cities. Although their origins are unclear, they are generally believed to derive from the

High crosses A high cross or standing cross (, , ) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. Th ...

or free-standing stones of the

period. In the

they frequently became the

focal point Focal point may refer to: * Focus (optics) * Focus (geometry) * Conjugate points, also called focal points * Focal point (game theory) * Unicom Focal Point, a portfolio management software tool * Focal point review, a human resources process for e ...

for

marketplace A marketplace, market place, or just market, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a ''souk'' (from ...

s, where communities gathered to

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

suggests that the presence of a cross in a marketplace may have served to “validate transactions”. James Masschaele, in his study, ''The Public Space of the Marketplace in Medieval England'', notes that marketplaces also served an important social function as a location for the “retailing of news and gossip”. Their religious associations led to many crosses being damaged or destroyed during the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

and in the aftermath of the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. The Oakham Market Cross dates from the 16th or 17th centuries. in diameter, a central stone shaft and eight encircling timber posts support a tiled roof. The

stand immediately adjacent to the central shaft. They are unusual in that they have five openings, rather than the more common four or six. The cross and the stocks are both Grade I listed structures. The group forms a

Notes

References

Sources

* * * {{cite book , last1=Pevsner, first1=Nikolaus , last2=Williamson, first2=Elizabeth , authorlink1=Nikolaus Pevsner , title=Leicestershire and Rutland , url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/49298894 , series=Buildings of England , year=2003 , location=New Haven, US and London , publisher=

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, isbn=9780300096187 , oclc=49298894 Grade I listed buildings in Rutland Scheduled monuments in Rutland Oakham Rutland Buildings and structures in Rutland Market crosses in England