The process of the evolution of the standing cross may be traced through certain well-defined stages. Its most rudimentary form is that of the menhir, a vertical monolith rising direct from the ground (Figs. 2 and 3); next, the shaft is raised on steps, and becomes a tapering stem, while its head grows on either side into the arms of a cross (Fig. 16), or expands into a lantern-like ornament, quadrangular or polygonal on plan, enriched with sculptured figures and tabernacle work (Figs. 4 and 5). The shaft-on-steps persisted to the last as the favourite type for churchyard crosses, notwithstanding the introduction of other varieties. The cross gained greater dignity by being mounted on an enlarged socket or foot, interposed between the shaft itself and the steps underneath. Thirdly, the shaft takes the form of a pinnacle or spire, generally of diminishing tiers or storeys, the whole crowned with a small cross or finial. To this type the important group of Eleanor crosses belongs (Figs. 1 and 8). Hitherto the cross had been simply spectacular and monumental. It next developed in a utilitarian direction, and became a preaching cross (Figs. 9 and 10), its lowest storey, formerly closed and solid, being opened out and made to consist of a ring of standards (with or without a shaft in the middle), to carry the soaring superstructure. The last type, the market cross (Figs. 11, 12, 13, and 14), may be regarded as an expansion of the preaching cross, the latter being intended to shelter but one occupant, or at any rate only a very small number, whereas the market cross is designed to shelter many persons. In the fully matured market cross the whole structure is one organism, planned as such from the outset; but there are, on the other hand, some obvious instances of adaptation, where the encircling umbrella is, as it were, an after-thought, having been built up to and about a previously existing cross of the shaft-on-steps type. In either case, however, the result ultimately obtained is identical. A number of handsome market crosses, principally belonging to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were constructed of timber framing, with stone, slate, or tiled roofs. The latest development was the introduction of an upper chamber above the open ground-floor stage. But when, later still, the circular or polygonal plan was abandoned for an oblong plan in order to provide the utmost accommodation in the upper chamber, all recognisable resemblance to the structure in the form of its origin was lost; in a word, the market cross had become extinct, and had given place instead to the market house or hall. [Illustration: 7. CHILD'S WICKHAM, GLOUCESTERSHIRE VILLAGE CROSS. SHAFT-ON-STEPS TYPE] [Illustration: 8. COVENTRY, WARWICKSHIRE ELEANOR CROSS TYPE] [Illustration: 9. BRISTOL PREACHING CROSS TYPE] [Illustration: 10. HOLBECH, LINCOLNSHIRE PREACHING CROSS TYPE]