of England is particularly
rich in these relics of ancient piety, but many have been allowed to
disappear. Glastonbury market cross, a fine Perpendicular structure
with a roof, was taken down in 1808, and a new one with no surrounding
arcade was erected in 1846. The old one bore the arms of Richard Bere,
abbot of Glastonbury, who died in 1524. The wall of an adjacent house
has a piece of stone carving representing a man and a woman clasping
hands, and tradition asserts that this formed part of the original
cross. Together with the cross was an old conduit, which frequently
accompanied the market cross. Cheddar Cross is surrounded by its
battlemented arcade with grotesque gargoyles, a later erection, the
shaft going through the roof. Taunton market cross was erected in 1867
in place of a fifteenth-century structure destroyed in 1780. On its
steps the Duke of Monmouth was proclaimed king, and from the window of
the Old Angel Inn Judge Jeffreys watched with pleasure the hanging of
the deluded followers of the duke from the tie-beams of the Market
Arcade. Dunster market cross is known as the Yarn Market, and was
erected in 1600 by George Luttrell, sheriff of the county of Somerset.
The town was famous for its kersey cloths, sometimes called
"Dunsters," which were sold under the shade of this structure.

Wymondham, in the county of Norfolk, standing on the high road between
Norwich and London, has a fine market cross erected in 1617. A great
fire raged here in 1615, when three hundred houses were destroyed, and
probably the old cross vanished with them, and this one was erected to
supply its place.

The old cross at Wells, built by William Knight, bishop of Bath in
1542, was taken down in 1783. Leland states that it was "a right
sumptuous Peace of worke." Over the vaulted roof was the _Domus
Civica_ or town hall. The tolls of the market were devoted to the
support of the choristers of Wells Cathedral. Leland also records a
market cross at Bruton which had six arches and a pillar in the middle
"for market folkes to stande yn." It was built by the last abbot of
Bruton in 1533, and was destroyed in 1790. Bridgwater Cross was
removed in 1820, and Milverton in 1850. Happily the inhabitants of
some towns and villages were not so easily deprived of their ancient
crosses, and the people of Croscombe, Somerset, deserve great credit
for the spirited manner in which they opposed the demolition of their
cross about thirty years ago.