Buttercross
English medieval 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. The fresh produce was laid out and displayed on the circular stepped bases of the cross.
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.
01Known 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, Suffolk
- Burwell, Lincolnshire
- Castle Combe, Wiltshire
- Chagford, Devon
- Cheddar, Somerset (Market Cross, Cheddar)
- Chichester, West Sussex
- Chippenham, Wiltshire
- Corby Glen, Lincolnshire
- Cranwell, Lincolnshire
- Digby, 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
- Launceston, Cornwall
- Ludlow Buttercross, Ludlow, Shropshire
- Malmesbury, Wiltshire
- 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, Wiltshire
- Scarborough, North Yorkshire (Butter Cross)
- Shepton Mallet, Somerset
- Somerton, Somerset
- Spilsby, Lincolnshire
- Stamfordham, Northumberland
- Swaffham, Norfolk
- Swinstead, Lincolnshire
- Tattershall, Lincolnshire
- Thatcham, Berkshire
- Tickhill, South Yorkshire
- Wainfleet All Saints, Lincolnshire
- Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire
- Winchester, Hampshire
- Witney, Oxfordshire
- Wymondham, Norfolk
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Buttercross”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Oakham Buttercross.jpg by Simon Garbutt. SiGarb 23:36, 26 October 2006 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0
- Whittlesy buttercross.jpg by Chalkietom, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Butter Market, Market Place, Barnard Castle - geograph.org.uk - 1392297.jpg by wfmillar, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Buttercross Westgate Mansfield.jpg by MatthewDavid41, CC BY-SA 4.0
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