At Leicester, the last remains of the ancient cross were cleared away
in 1569. Meanwhile, a successor to it had been built in 1557. This new
Market Cross (Fig. 12) was octagonal on plan, having open arches on
pillars and a cupola roof. In its turn it was demolished between 1769
and 1773.
At Ipswich, a preaching cross, erected in 1510 by Edmund Daundy,
Bailiff of the town, and said to be a near relative of Cardinal
Wolsey, is believed to have occupied the same spot on the Cornhill,
where subsequently, in 1628, the market cross was built (Figs.
169-172). The latter was projected, at least, as early as 1610, when
Benjamin Osborne promised £50, which, by will dated June 1619, he
bequeathed toward the building. But it was not until 1628 that the
Corporation managed to obtain any payment from his executors, and
then the sum available from his estate was £6 short of the proper
amount. The figures in the inscription, recording the benefaction
upon a shield in one of the spandrels, were thereupon altered from
£50 to £44 (Fig. 172). The structure, 28 ft. in diameter, comprised
eight stone columns, supporting elliptical arches of wood, with an
embattled parapet above a cornice, elaborately carved with scrollwork
and grotesques. Five masks from the old wood carving, together with
the shield inscribed as above mentioned, are yet preserved in the
Ipswich Museum. The roof, an ogee-shaped cupola, covered with lead,
was framed into a centre post, carried on cross-beams just above the
level of the eaves. The upper end of the post ran up through the
middle of the roof in the form of a square terminal of four stages,
the lowest part being carved with a group of figures supporting a
gilt ball, like an orb, with a cross on the top. On the occasion of
the Proclamation of King Charles II., on 10th May 1660, "the cross was
ordered to be beautified--painted or rather emblazoned" with the arms
of local celebrities. The arms included those of Ipswich borough and
of the families of Daundy, Bloss, Long, and Sparrowe, as well as two
tradesmen's marks, C. A., and B. K. M. The carved faces in the museum
yet retain their flesh tints. In April 1694 the Corporation ordered
that a new statue of Justice should be erected upon the summit of
the cross. In 1723 the Corporation voted thanks to Mr Francis Nugent
(who represented Ipswich in three Parliaments) for his present of a
statue of Justice, which was brought from his seat at Dallinghoe.
This, an allegorical figure, holding the scales, is of stone, painted
brown, and also is preserved in Ipswich Museum. A sketch and plan by
Sir James Thornhill (Fig. 169), in May 1711, shows that the cross at
that time stood surrounded by a balustrade. The cross was pulled down
bodily at the beginning of January 1812, by order of a Great Court
previously held. An aquatint, from a contemporary drawing by George
Frost, was published in the same year (Fig. 171).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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