Description

MALMESBURY

ST9387 MARKET CROSS
758-1/4/255 (North side)
18/01/49 The Cross

GV I

Market cross. Late C15/early C16, renovated c1800 by the Earl
of Suffolk, and repaired 1909-12 and 1949-50. Limestone
ashlar. Octagonal plan about a central shaft.
Each face has a moulded 4-centre open arch with a low plinth,
and 2 entrances facing SW and NE, with foliate spandrels
beneath a drip and a crenellated parapet. Angle buttresses
between have crocketed pinnacles rising from 2 levels of
weathering. A large lantern above the roof is supported by
cyma-moulded arch-braced roll top flying buttresses, with
figures of the saints and the Crucifixion set in niches
beneath attached finials, beneath an elaborate ogee cap with
crockets and finials.
INTERIOR: central octagonal shaft with attached columns and a
low bench, with matching columns to the inside of the
buttresses, supports a lierne vault with bosses.
HISTORICAL NOTE: Leland states c1544 that it was built in
living memory "for poore market folkes to stande dry when
rayne cummith".
An extremely fine example of its type.
(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Wiltshire: London:
1963-: 327; Victoria History of the Counties of England:
Crowley DA: Wiltshire: 1956-: 134).

Listing NGR: ST9330487229

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Malmesbury Market Cross at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q6744367

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014