English medieval market cross
A buttercross in Oakham The 17th-century buttercross in Whittlesey , Cambridgeshire. Barnard Castle Market Cross A buttercross , butter cross or butter market cross is a type of market cross associated with English market towns and dating from medieval times. The name originates from the fact that the crosses were located in market places , where people would gather to buy locally produced butter and other dairy products.[ 1]
Their design varies from place to place, but they are often covered by some type of roof to offer shelter. The roofs were generally added at a much later date than the construction of the original cross.
Known buttercrosses
Examples from most parts of England include:
Abbots Bromley , Staffordshire Alnwick , Northumberland Alveley , Shropshire Bainton, Cambridgeshire Barnard Castle , County Durham (Barnard Castle Market Cross )Barrow, Rutland Biddulph , Staffordshire Bingham, Nottinghamshire Bingley , West Yorkshire Brigg , Lincolnshire Bungay , SuffolkBurwell, Lincolnshire Castle Combe , Wiltshire Chagford , DevonCheddar, Somerset (Market Cross, Cheddar )Chichester , West Sussex Chippenham , Wiltshire Corby Glen , Lincolnshire Cranwell , LincolnshireDigby, Lincolnshire Dunster , Somerset (Dunster Butter Cross )Fishlake , Doncaster, South Yorkshire Grantham , Lincolnshire Gringley-on-the-Hill , Nottinghamshire Hallaton , Leicestershire Hooton Pagnell , South Yorkshire Kirkby Moorside , North Yorkshire Ludlow Buttercross , Ludlow , Shropshire Maltby , South Yorkshire Mansfield , Nottinghamshire Market Drayton , Shropshire Marton, Lincolnshire Monk Bretton , South Yorkshire,Mountsorrel , Leicestershire Newport, Shropshire (Puleston Cross )Oakham Market Cross , Oakham , Rutland Otley , West Yorkshire Peterborough , Cambridgeshire Pontefract , West Yorkshire Preston , Lancashire Sarsden , Oxfordshire Salisbury , WiltshireScarborough, North Yorkshire Shepton Mallet , SomersetSomerton , SomersetSpilsby , Lincolnshire Stamfordham , NorthumberlandSwaffham , Norfolk Swinstead , Lincolnshire Tattershall , Lincolnshire Thatcham , Berkshire Tickhill , South Yorkshire Wainfleet All Saints , Lincolnshire Whittlesey , Cambridgeshire Winchester , Hampshire Witney , Oxfordshire Wymondham , Norfolk
External links
Butter crosses at Wikimedia Commons
References
Information related to Buttercross
