See also: Swineshead (2) – a wayside or boundary cross, nearby
| Parish/District | Swineshead/Boston Borough |
| Location | in the former Swineshead market place on the north side of the modern war memorial |
| Category | Market cross |
| National Grid Ref | TF 23788 40250 |
| Designation | Scheduled / Listed II |
| Stone Type | Limestone |
| Refs | AP Survey 20 Dec 1993; Davies, D S, 1915, Lincs N & Q, Vol XIII No.6, p.218 |
| Visits | AP: 20 Dec 1993 | DS/HH: Not visited | DS 23 Aug 2024 |
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.
Nattes drew Swineshead market cross and adjacent stocks, c.1800. He seems to show three steps and a socket stone and possibly a short portion of shaft – the socket stone and shaft are now missing.
There are several historic photographs available in the form of postcards which show the condition of the cross in the early 20th century. All of them appear to show an octagonal socket stone set upon the top (third) step. This is no longer present, but the four components of the top step look to be shaped as if to form a base or plinth for the absent socket stone. There are repairs to the top step which look to be from the 1967 work, suggesting it was already lost by that time.
Swineshead market cross was dismantled for restoration in 1967. The whole structure was removed and a set of earlier foundations was discovered below the steps (see press report below). A square posthole with timber remaining in the fill was noted at its centre and thought to indicate an earlier phase of the cross. Hilary recorded and photographed the foundations and the posthole.
The cross comprises the buried foundation with three steps which are all roughly square in plan and constructed of limestone blocks with slightly chamfered upper corners. The lowest step is about 2.45m square, the second 1.9m square, and the third 1.15m square. The upper surfaces of the four slabs forming the third step are moulded/carved to make an octagonal section and are then levelled off; at the centre is a socket of rectangular section into which the shaft formerly fitted, now occupied by a plain flat slab. The full height of the base is about 0.7m.
All the steps are medieval in date with modern repair, including vertical, square-section holes, indicating where the steps were formerly held together by iron clamps.
Swinehead market cross was restored/repaired in September 1967. This press report (Lincs Free Press 19 Sept 1967) reports on the finding of an earlier foundation beneath the lowest step of the cross, with a portion of a wooden post – possibly the shaft of an earlier cross – in situ
