In a recent Number (563) we adverted to the origin of these
interesting structures, and attributed their erection to pious
feelings, as well as for purposes of a commercial character. The
specimens before us appear to have belonged to the latter
appropriation--inasmuch as they are what are commonly termed _Market
Crosses_. The first is situate at _Leighton Buzzard_, or as the name
was anciently written, Leighton _beau-desert_, on the borders of
Buckinghamshire, and said to be the _Lygean-burgh_ of the Saxon
Chronicle, which was taken from the Britons by Cuthwulph, in the year
571. The principal of the antiquities of the town is the above Cross.
It is of a pentagonal form, and of beautiful pointed architecture: it
is stated to have been built upwards of five hundred years, but the
name of its founder is not known. The anxiety of the inhabitants of
Leighton-Buzzard to preserve this relic of olden time is entitled to
special mention.
[Illustration: (_At Leighton Buzzard._)]
"In the year 1650, this cross was presented at the court-leet as being
in such a ruinous state, that it greatly endangered the lives of those
persons who were passing near it. Upon this occasion a rate of 4_d._
was levied upon every inhabitant to defray the charge of repairing it.
The height of the cross is twenty-seven feet two inches, from the top
of the stone-work to the basement story, which is seven feet four
inches from the ground, at the lowest side, and consists of five rows
of steps rising from the earth. The centre pillar, which supports the
arch, is eight feet two inches high, and one foot one inch and a
quarter wide, on the side fronting the largest angle. The upper story
is disposed into five niches, and there were formerly as many
pinnacles at the corners; but one of them has been destroyed: each
niche contained a statue. The first appears to have been intended to
represent a bishop, another seems like the Virgin and Jesus; a third
appears to be Saint John the Evangelist; the others are too much
mutilated to be known. Over each arch attached to the cornice,
surrounding the building, there were three grotesque heads. The entire
height of the cross, from the lowest base to the top of the vane, is
thirty-eight feet. It is constructed of stone, and is situated in an
open area, near the market-house."
[Illustration: (_At Holbeach._)]
The second Cross is at _Holbeach_, in the _Holland_ division of
Lincolnshire. The Cross is situate in the market-place of the town;
and it is supposed to have been raised about the year 1253; near which
period, Thomas de Malton, Lord Egremont, obtained for Holbeach the
grant of a weekly market and annual fair.
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