Market Cross

The stump of Ancaster’s market cross stands on Roman Ermine Street, and has been demolished by vehicle collisions on several occasions.

The setting of the Appleby crosses today, looks rather dismal and is dangerous for cross-spotters – but it was not always so. The site of the cross bases has probably survived because, until its felling in 1978, they shared it with a large elm tree known as Stocks Tree.

The second of Appleby’s cross bases is a square block with the corners stopped to form an octagon. Most of the square part of the base is buried, with just the corner stops showing.

Barrow market cross (also known as the Butter Cross) with a single square step (or bench) 2.02m x 1.99m with 0.46m visible above modern ground level. Old photographs show rather more of the base.

The building known as Brigg Buttercross is located at the centre of Brigg market place and may have been so named because it replaced an earlier, medieval market cross.

Burwell Butter Cross is one of the few examples of an 18th century market cross building to survive in Lincolnshire.

Corby Glen has a good classic market cross – still in the Market Place, although that has now inevitably declined to a car park. It is set on an octagonal base of three stone steps, which are mounted on a brick base. There is a Nattes drawing of this cross of 1804, showing it set beside the village stocks, before the brick base was added. A later drawing of c.1850 (Caroline Anne Brereton) shows the stocks gone and the brick base in place. The height of the stone steps is variable but c.0.3m. All the steps are medieval in date, with later repair represented by iron clamps.

Deeping St James cross is possibly the most written about cross in Lincolnshire on account of its demolition and rebuilding as a lock-up in 1819. The work was carried out by a local craftsman Tailby Johnson at a cost of nine shillings. We do have an image of the remains of the cross before its alteration (c.1800?) and it looks to be a large and impressive structure, although its shaft is missing and a small (iron?) cross has been fixed in its place.

A very famous market cross in Epworth, outside the Mechanics Institute Library (the Old Court House of 1802). Pevsner and the listing state that the cross was reset in 1806. Was this a routine makeover or homage to its Wesleyan fame?

Grantham has three crosses to describe – Its market cross and two lost crosses: the Eleanor Cross and the Apple Cross. Grantham’s Eleanor Cross is described in the section on Eleanor crosses (here) and the Apple Cross is described in

This is one of three surviving crosses in Haxey which appears to be a market cross – it is sometimes known as ‘the Buttercross’ although there does not appear to be a market charter for Haxey. It is probably at the centre of what was the market place, although, sadly, this means it has now become a rather dismal traffic island – recently with protective iron bollards set around it.

Kirton was granted a market charter in 1308 and became a busy market centre, the importance of the market and town only declining in the 20th century. The market place was on the wide road junction in front of (south of) the parish church of SS Peter and Paul. The 1887 O.S. 25” map shows the remains of the market cross along with a pump and a guide post still in place. Inevitably the whole of the area is now given over to traffic management.

Market Deeping had a market grant from 1220 and a market charter from 1304 and, as the name implies, was a busy market centre until the latter half of the twentieth century. Davies notes that: ‘…the Dean of Stamford points out that there was without doubt a Market Cross in the town, for it is mentioned in the survey, 1563, but all trace of it has vanished’.

No market charter is recorded for Metheringham, but it has an ancient market cross and a Saturday market is recorded. White’s 1856 Directory records: ‘An ancient cross which stood in the village, was replaced by a new one in 1835, at the cost of about £25, and a market is now held round it on Saturday evenings’.

There was never a market cross at New Bolingbroke, but an open market hall was built here in the 1820s, when the new ‘town’ was established.

Parts of a stone cross were were discovered buried in the dyke bank near to the site of the Red Lion Inn at Glenside North (Northgate) during works in 1973.

Spilsby has a fine market cross – often termed the Buttercross – situated at the eastern end of Spilsby market place.

Its base is formed of five steps of limestone blocks, probably medieval in origin, which have been repaired and rebuilt with sandstone flags. Further additions were made in the present century when the lowest step was raised and the top of the uppermost step chamfered with a layer of mortar screed.

St Ives cross (aka the Butter Cross) in Sutton St James is architecturally unusual and is mentioned and illustrated in Stukeley’s Itinerarium Curiosum (1724). It is a good example of a medieval standing cross with an octagonal stepped base but it is rare in having angle brackets; a very unusual feature for standing crosses.

Swineshead was an important market town and held a market charter for a Thursday market from  1227 – it is said that the market prospered until the middle if the 17th century when it was suppressed by the corporation of Boston. The base of a market cross survives in Swineshead market place. These days it is a part of a landscaped and planted area surrounded by railings and dominated by a war memorial,  but historic photographs show it in an open square adjacent to the village stocks.

Tattershall was granted a market charter in 1202 by King John (it is said, for the annual fee of a trained  goshawk) and the town developed into an important medieval market centre. There is a fine market cross, known as the Butter Cross, in the market place.

Wainfleet was a busy and thriving medieval port and commercial centre with a string of charters for markets and fairs. The town still retains a sizeable market place (now a car park) with a splendid market cross – usually known as the Butter Cross.