The cross was erected in what became the Market Place of St. Albans by
John Battle and his partners, some of the sculpture being supplied by
Ralph of Chichester. The visit of the procession to St. Albans is
especially noteworthy on account of the record remaining of the
elaborate religious services in the Church of the great Benedictine
Abbey during the night the procession rested there. In 1596 the cross is
described as “verie stately.” There can be no doubt, however, that
already the cross had suffered much damage by the lapse of time, as well
as by neglect. At any rate, scant ceremony was shown to the cross in
later years. It is stated to have been partly destroyed by order of
Parliament in 1643; fragments, however, stood in the market place till
the year 1702. In 1703 an octagonal market house was built on its site;
in 1765 this became a pump house, and in 1872 the present drinking
fountain in the centre of St. Albans was built on the consecrated site
of the “verie stately cross.”