thumb|The elaborate [[Malmesbury Market Cross|Malmesbury market cross|alt=]]
thumb|French market with cross, from an early 15th-century illumination by the [[Master of the Cité des dames|Master of the Cité des dames|alt=]]
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 were originally from the distinctive tradition in Early Medieval Insular art of free-standing stone standing or high crosses, often elaborately carved, which goes back to the 7th century. Market crosses can be found in many market towns in Britain. British emigrants often installed such crosses in their new cities, and several can be found in Canada and Australia.
Design
These structures range from carved stone spires, obelisks or crosses, common to small market towns such as that in Stalbridge, Dorset, to large, ornate covered structures, such as the Chichester Cross, or Malmesbury Market Cross. They can also be constructed from wood; an example is at Wymondham, Norfolk.
Towns and villages in the British isles with a market cross
A
- Aberdeen
- Aberford
- Abbots Bromley
- Aldbourne
- Alfriston
- Alnwick
- Alston
- Ambleside
- Ashbourne
- Austwick (Base and pillar remaining)
- Askrigg
- Austwick
- Aylburton
B
- Banbury
- Barnard Castle
- Barrow upon Humber
- Bawtry
- Bedale
- Belford
- Beverley
- Billesdon (x2)
- Bingham
- Bingley
- Binham
- Bishops Lydeard
- Bodenham
- Bonsall
- Boroughbridge
- Bottesford, Leicestershire
- Bourton, Vale of White Horse
- Bovey Tracey
- Brandesburton
- Brigstock
- Bromborough
- Brough (Original block and socket remaining)
- Buckingham
- Bungay
- Burnley
- Bedlington
- Bury St. Edmunds
- Burton-in-Kendal
- Buxton
C
- Caldbeck
- Carlisle
- Castle Combe
- Castle Rising
- Chapel-en-le-Frith
- Cheadle, Staffordshire
- Cheddar
- Chester
- Chichester
- Chipping Sodbury
- Chipping Warden
- Colne
- Clowne
- Corbridge (x2)
- Corby Glen
- Corfe Castle
- Coventry
- Crich
- Cricklade
- Culross
- Culworth
- Cumnock
D
- Dalton-in-Furness
- Darlington
- Devizes
- Dunchurch
- Dundee
- Dunkeld
- Dunstable
- Yarn Market, Dunster
E
- Edinburgh
- Easingwold
- East Hagbourne
- Elstow
- Emley, West Yorkshire
- Enfield Town
- Epworth
- Eynsham
F
- Frome
G
- Garstang
- Giggleswick
- Glasgow
- Glastonbury
- Glossop
- Grampound with Creed
- Grantham
- Guisborough
H
- Harringworth
- Helmsley
- Helpston
- Henley-in-Arden
- Hereford
- Higham Ferrers
- Highburton
- Hillmorton
- Hooton Pagnell
- Howden
- Holsworthy
- Holt
- Huddersfield
- Hunmanby
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I
- Ilchester
- Irthlingborough
K
- Keighley
- King Sterndale
- King's Cliffe
- Kirkby in Ashfield
- Kirkby Lonsdale (x2)
- Kirkby Malzeard
- Kirkbymoorside
- Knaresborough
L
- Lambourn
- Launceston, Cornwall
- Lavenham
- Leek
- Leicester
- Leigh, Greater Manchester
- Leighton–Linslade
- Leighton Buzzard
- Lerwick
- Lower Holker
- Lund, East Riding of Yorkshire
- Lydney
- Lyneham, Wiltshire
M
- Maiden Newton
- Maltby, South Yorkshire
- Mark, Somerset
- Market Deeping
- Malmesbury
- Mansfield
- Mansfield Woodhouse
- Martock
- Masham
- Maybole
- Melbourne, Derbyshire
- Metheringham
- Middleham
- Middleton-in-Teesdale
- Mildenhall
- Milnthorpe
- Minchinhampton
- Minehead
- Monk Bretton
- Mountsorrel
N
- Newcastle-under-Lyme
- Newport, Wales
- Newport, Shropshire
- Newsham, Richmondshire
- Newton Abbot
- North Frodingham
- North Kyme
- North Turton
- North Tawton
- North Walsham
- New Buckenham
- Northallerton
- Nunney
O
- Oakenshaw
- Oakham Market Cross
- Old Cross, Old Glossop
- Overthorpe, West Yorkshire
P
- Pembroke
- Penryn, Cornwall
- Pontefract
- Poulton-le-Fylde
Q
- Quainton
R
- Reach, Cambridgeshire
- Repton
- Ripley, North Yorkshire
- Ripon
- Rochdale
- Rockingham, Northamptonshire
- Rothesay
- Rutherglen
S
- Saffron Walden
- Salisbury
- Sedgemoor
- Selby
- Shap
- Shepton Mallet
- Somerton
- Spilsby
- St Albans
- Stalbridge
- Stamfordham
- Standish, Greater Manchester
- Stanhope, County Durham (x2)
- Steeple Ashton
- Stockton-on-Tees
- Stow-on-the-Wold
- Stretham
- Sturminster Newton
- Swaffham
- Swineshead, Lincolnshire
- Swinton (Berwickshire)
T
- Tattershall
- Thornton-le-Dale
- Tickhill
U
- Uttoxeter
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W
- Wainfleet All Saints
- Wantage
- Warkworth, Northumberland
- Wedmore
- Wells
- West Bedlington
- West Burton
- West Malling, Kent
- Weston, Runcorn
- Whittlesey
- Wigtown (x2)
- Williton (x2)
- Winchester
- Witney
- Woodhouse, South Yorkshire
- Wymondham
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<gallery widths=180>
Aberdeen Market Cross.jpg|Aberdeen
Bedale.jpg|Bedale
Carlisle Market Cross 6409708 3d6e1b07.jpg|Carlisle
Chichester_Cross,_c.1831.png|Chichester
Highburton_Cross.jpg|Highburton
Maybolecross.jpg|Maybole
Salisbury Market 20040724.jpg|Salisbury
Somerset sm market.jpg|Shepton Mallet
cmglee_Wymondham_Market_Cross.jpg|Wymondham
</gallery>
See also
- Perron
- Tottenham High Cross
- Eleanor cross
- Bristol High Cross - now moved
- Glasgow Cross