The Poultry Cross 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 ...

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

, England, marking the site of former markets. Constructed in the 14th century and modified in the 18th century, it stands at the junction of Silver Street and Minster Street. It has been designated by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

as a

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

structure. The Poultry Cross is the only one remaining of four market crosses that once stood in Salisbury. The others were the Cheese Cross in the present Cheesemarket area, Barnard's Cross (livestock) at the junction of Barnard Street and Culver Street and another which designated a market for wool and yarn at the east end of the present Market Place, near the War Memorial. The presence of a market cross on the site dates to 1307, and the name to about a century later. The present stone structure was built in the 14th century. The original

flying buttresses The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of a ramping arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, to convey to the ground the lateral forces that push a wall out ...

were removed in 1711, as can be seen in the painting of 1800 by

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...

; the present buttresses date from 1852 to 1854, when the upper parts of the cross were rebuilt to the designs of the architect

Owen Browne Carter Owen Browne Carter (1806 – 30 March 1859) was an English architect, based in Winchester, but also had works commissioned from all around the country. He designed several public buildings, such as The Corn Exchange, Winchester, Corn Exchange in ...

. The present-day site, around the structure, is used as part of Salisbury Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays. However, the structure itself is no longer in use.

References

{{coord, 51.06876, -1.79616, type:landmark_region:GB-WIL, format=dms, display=title Buildings and structures in Salisbury Grade I listed buildings in Wiltshire Market crosses in England