As the seventeenth century advanced the market cross exhibited more
and more marked divergence from the original architectural forms,
including the abandonment of the cross on the summit, and the
adoption, in many instances, of a sundial in place of the cross. This
tendency only increased in the eighteenth century. Instances of it
are afforded by the market crosses--rectangular on plan--at Woodstock
(Fig. 189) and Wakefield (Fig. 190). Other eighteenth-century market
crosses, _e.g._, those of Bungay (1789) (Fig. 187) and Swaffham (1783)
(Fig. 188), might almost be mistaken in appearance for bandstands,
but from the fact that, aloft upon their lead-covered domes, the
allegorical figure of Justice, emphasising the duty of fair dealing,
continues to proclaim their purpose of open-air shelters for the
transaction of business.
VII. UNCLASSIFIED VARIETIES
It is not easy to devise a system for the classification of crosses,
which shall, without loss of precision, be both exhaustive enough and
comprehensive enough to embrace every possible variety. There remain,
then, a few anomalous instances which seem not to admit of inclusion
in any of the categories already considered.
The first to note is Doncaster cross (Fig. 191), of which an engraving
was published in _Vetusta Monumenta_, July 1753, from an old painting,
formerly the property of Lord Fairfax, who sold it in 1672 to
Alderman Thoresby, of Leeds. An ancient manuscript, accompanying the
painting, recorded all that was known of the history of the cross.
The latter bore on the shaft, at about a third of its height up from
the bottom, an inscription in Norman French: "This is the cross of
Ote de Tilli, on whose soul God have mercy. Amen." The said Ote de
Tilli was seneschal of the Earl of Conisborough, and was a witness
of the charter of foundation of Kirkstall Abbey in 1152. His name
occurs in other charters of King Stephen's reign, and also of others
in the reigns of Henry II. and Richard I. The cross stood at the
south end of the town of Doncaster, on the London road. The shaft
was 18 ft. high, and consisted of a large central cylinder with four
engaged cylindrical shafts, having a total circumference of 11 ft.
7 in. It stood upon five circular steps, resting upon a hexagonal
base or plinth. On the summit of the stone cross there formerly rose
five slender iron crosses, the central one higher than the rest; but
in 1644 the monument was defaced by the troops under the Earl of
Manchester, losing its iron crosses. To make up the deficiency the
mayor, in 1678, erected four dials, a ball, and vane on the top of the
cross. Of not dissimilar plan is the stump of a shaft at Elstow (Fig.
192), in Bedfordshire. Again, there is a tall pillar of clustered
columns in three stages at Aldborough (Fig. 193). All three examples
appear to date from the thirteenth century.
[Illustration: 191. DONCASTER, W.R. YORKSHIRE]
[Illustration: 192. ELSTOW, BEDFORDSHIRE
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