Malmesbury Market Cross is a Grade I listed, late 15th century structure in the town of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England.
Malmesbury Market Cross is a Grade I listed, late 15th century structure in the town of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England.
The market cross stands in the centre of the town, at the north end of the High Street. It was built c. 1490, [1] possibly using limestone salvaged from the recently ruined part of Malmesbury Abbey, which then began just across the market square from the cross. An elaborately carved octagonal structure of the Perpendicular Period, it is recognised as one of the best preserved of its kind in England, and was made a Grade I listed building in 1949. [2] A carving in relief of the Crucifixion and figures of several saints have survived the Reformation on the open lantern, although the lower niches for figures are now empty. Inside there is a lierne vaulted roof with carved bosses, springing from a central column with stone seating around it. [2] There is a low wall or bench across all the outside arches except two. The building is over 40 ft. high, [3] and today is nicknamed "the Birdcage", because of its appearance, and still serves to shelter market traders by day and as a meeting point at night. [4]
It was described by John Leland, who visited Malmesbury in 1542, as follows: [5] [6] [7]
Malmesbyri hath a good quik [lively] market kept every Saturday. There is a right fair and costeley peace of worke in the market place made all of stone and curiusly voultid for poore market folkes to stande dry when rayne cummith. Ther be 8 great pillers and 8 open arches: and the work is 8 square: one great piller in the midle berith up the voulte. The men of the toun made this peace of work in hominum memoria [within living memory].
The cross was renovated in about 1800 at the expense of John Howard, 15th Earl of Suffolk, [8] and subsequently repaired in 1909–12 and 1949–50. [2] In 1879–80, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (in its third year of existence) sent two council members who drew up a report of the repairs needed for Lord Northwick, who owned the cross, but it is not clear what was done. [9] One pinnacle knocked off by a heavy goods vehicle in recent years is in the Athelstan Museum in the town. [6]
An even more elaborate covered market cross in a similar style is the Chichester Cross; Ipswich once had another, in a lighter Renaissance style, but this survives only in old prints. [10]
The Eleanor crosses were a series of twelve tall and lavishly decorated stone monuments topped with crosses erected in a line down part of the east of England. King Edward I had them built between 1291 and about 1295 in memory of his beloved wife Eleanor of Castile. The King and Queen had been married for 36 years and she stayed by the King’s side through his many travels. While on a royal progress, she died in the East Midlands in November 1290, perhaps due to fever. The crosses, erected in her memory, marked the nightly resting-places along the route taken when her body was transported to Westminster Abbey near London.
Malmesbury Abbey, at Malmesbury in Wiltshire, England, is a religious house dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. It was one of the few English houses with a continuous history from the 7th century through to the dissolution of the monasteries.
Chichester Cross is an elaborate Perpendicular market cross in the centre of the city of Chichester, West Sussex, standing at the intersection of the four principal streets. It is a Grade I listed building.
Wiltshire is a historic county located in the South West England region. Wiltshire is landlocked and is in the east of the region.
Box is a large village and civil parish within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Wiltshire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) west of Corsham and 5 miles (8 km) northeast of Bath. Box also falls in the easternmost part of the Avon Green Belt. Besides the village of Box, the parish includes the villages of Ashley and Box Hill; Hazelbury manor; and the hamlets of Alcombe, Blue Vein, Chapel Plaister, Ditteridge, Henley, Kingsdown, Middlehill, and Wadswick. To the east the parish includes much of Rudloe, formerly a hamlet but now a housing estate, and the defence establishments and related businesses on the site of the former RAF Rudloe Manor.
Luckington is a village and civil parish in the southern Cotswolds, in north-west Wiltshire, England, about 6+1⁄2 miles (10 km) west of Malmesbury. The village is on the B4040 road linking Malmesbury and Chipping Sodbury. The parish is on the county border with Gloucestershire and includes the village of Alderton and the hamlet of Brook End.
Colerne is a village and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England. The village is about 3.5 miles (6 km) west of the town of Corsham and 7 miles (11 km) northeast of the city of Bath. It has an elevated and exposed position, 545 feet (166 m) above sea level, and overlooks the Box valley to the south.
Minety is a village in north Wiltshire, England, between Malmesbury – 6 miles (9.7 km) to the west – and Swindon. It takes its name from the water mint plant found growing in ditches around the village, and has previously been known as Myntey. It has a primary school and a successful rugby club.
Kington St Michael is a village and civil parish about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Chippenham in Wiltshire, England.
Britford is a village and civil parish beside the River Avon about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south-east of Salisbury in Wiltshire, England. The village is just off the A338 Salisbury-Bournemouth road. The 2011 Census recorded a parish population of 592.
Burton is a small village in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Wiltshire, England. Kelly's 1915 Directory of Wiltshire identifies Burton as the most important part of the parish of Nettleton. It is about 8 miles (13 km) west of Chippenham.
Malmesbury is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately 14 miles (23 km) west of Swindon, 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Bristol, and 9 miles (14 km) north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upper waters of the Bristol Avon and one of its tributaries.
St Mary's Church in the village of Purton in north Wiltshire, England, is an active Church of England parish church in the Diocese of Bristol. A large building begun in the 13th century and one of only three churches in England to have both a western tower and a central spire, it has been designated as a Grade I listed building by English Heritage.
The Old Bell is a hotel and restaurant in the Cotswold market town of Malmesbury, Wiltshire. The hotel is in the centre of the town, immediately next to the 12th-century remains of Malmesbury Abbey. The Old Bell is a Grade I listed building because of its architectural and historic significance. Substantial parts of the fabric of the hotel date back to the 13th century when it was the guest house of the Abbey. It has a claim to be considered as the oldest hotel in England. It was built in about 1220 on the site of Malmesbury Castle, which was obtained by the monks and demolished in 1216.
John Edward Jackson was an English clergyman of the Church of England, antiquary, and archivist.
St Aldhelm's Roman Catholic Church in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England is a Roman Catholic Church built in 1875. The church is dedicated to St Aldhelm who lived in Malmesbury and was the abbot at nearby Malmesbury Abbey.
John Halle's Hall is a 15th-century late medieval building, a hall house, in Salisbury, England, with later 16th-, 19th- and 20th-century additions. The Hall is a Grade I listed building, the top category, 'of highest significance'. The medieval part of the building is now the foyer of a cinema, with a Victorian mock-Tudor street façade added in 1880–1881, together with the main cinema screening room built in 1931 behind the foyer. The noted architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described this conglomeration as ' ... a great curiosity, a cinema with a grossly overdone timber-framed Tudor façade ..., and behind this façade the substantial and memorable remains of the House of John Hall'.
Malmesbury Town Hall is a municipal building in Cross Hayes in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England. The structure, which is the meeting place of Malmesbury Town Council and the home of the Athelstan Museum, is a Grade II listed building.
