_For the Table Book._
The High Cross, which formerly stood at Bristol, was first erected in
1373 in the High-street, near the Tolsey; and in succeeding times it was
adorned with the effigies of four kings, who had been benefactors to the
city, viz. king John facing north to Broad-street, king Henry III. east
to Wine-street, king Edward III. west to Corn-street, and king Edward
IV. south to High-street.
After the original Cross had stood three hundred and sixty years at the
top of High-street, a silversmith who resided in the house (now 1827)
called the Castle Bank, facing High-street and Wine-street, _offered to
swear_ that during every high wind his premises and his life were
endangered by the expected fall of the Cross!--A petition, too, was
signed by several _respectable citizens!_ to the corporation for its
removal, with which that body _complied with great reluctance, and saw
its demolition with great regret_!
In the year 1633 it was taken down, enlarged, and raised higher, and
four other statues were then added, viz. king Henry VI. facing east,
queen Elizabeth west, king James I. south, and king Charles I. north;
the whole was painted and gilded, and environed with iron palisadoes.
In 1733, being found incommodious by obstructing the passage of
carriages, it was again taken down, and erected in the centre of
College-green, the figures facing the same points as before. On that
occasion it was painted in imitation of grey marble, the ornaments were
gilt, and the figures were painted in their proper colours.
About the year 1762 it was discovered that it prevented ladies and
gentlemen from walking eight or ten abreast, and its final ruin resolved
upon; and it was once more taken down by the order of the Rev. Cuts
Barton, then dean, and strange to say, as if there were no spot in the
whole city of Bristol whereon this beautiful structure could be again
erected, it was given by the “very reverend” gentleman to Mr. Henry
Hoare of Stourton, who afterwards set it up in his delightful gardens
there.
The following extracts from some old newspapers preserved by the Bristol
antiquary, the late Mr. George Symes Catcott, are interesting.
“August 21, 1762.--Several workmen are now employed in raising the walls
in College-green, and taking down the High Cross, which, _when
beautified_, will be put up in the middle of the grass-plot near the
lower green, about thirty yards from where it now stands.”
“A.D. 1764--Epigram:--
“Ye people of Bristol deplore the sad loss
Of the kings and the queens that once reigned in your Cross;
Tho’ your patrons they were, and their reigns were so good,
Like Nebuchadnezer they’re forced to the wood.
Your great men’s great wisdom you surely must pity,
Who’ve banished what all men admir’d from the city.”
“October, 1764.--To the printer (of one of the Bristol newspapers)--
“Sir,--By inserting the following in your paper you will oblige, &c.:--
“In days of yore, when haughty France was tamed,
In that great battle, which from Cressy’s named,
Our glorious Edward and his Godlike son
To England added what from France they’d won.
In this famed reign the High Cross was erected,
And for its height and beauty much respected.
Succeeding times (for gratitude then reigned
On earth, nor was by all mankind disdained)
The Cross adorned with four patron kings,
So History assures the muse that sings;
Some hundred years it stood, to strangers shown
As the palladium of this trading town:
Till in king Charles the first’s unhappy reign
’Twas taken down, but soon was raised again:
In bulk and height increased, four statues more
Were added to the others, there before:
Then gilded palisadoes fenc’d it round--
A Cross so noble grac’d no other ground.
There long it stood, and oft admir’d had been,
Till mov’d from thence to adorn the College-green.
There had it still remained; but envious fate,
Who secret pines at what is good or great,
Raised up the _ladies_ to conspire its fall,
For boys and men, and dogs defiled it all.
For those faults condemned, this noble pile
Was in the sacred college stow’d a while.
From thence these kings, so very great and good,
Are sent to grace proud Stourton’s lofty wood.
“R. S.”
Mr. Britton observes, that “the improvements and embellishments of this
Cross in 1633 cost the chamber of Bristol 207_l._ Its height from the
ground was thirty-nine feet six inches. After taking it down in 1733 it
was thrown into the Guildhall, where it remained till some gentlemen of
the College-green voluntarily subscribed to have it re-erected in the
centre of that open space; but here it was not suffered long to
continue, for in 1763 the whole was once more levelled with the ground,
and thrown into a secluded corner of the cathedral, so insensible were
the Bristolians of its beauty and curiosity. Mr. Hoare expended about
300_l._ in its removal to and re-erection at Stourton. The present
structure at Stourton, however, varies in many particulars from the
original Cross. It constitutes not only an unique garden ornament in its
present situation, but is singularly beautiful for its architectural
character, its sculpture, and its eventful history.”
1821.--A clergyman of Bristol (the Rev. Mr. Sayer) having an occasion to
write to sir R. C. Hoare, bart. received in reply a letter containing
the following paragraph:--“I am glad to hear that the citizens of
Bristol show a desire to restore the ancient monuments of their royal
benefactors; pray assure them, that I shall be very happy to contribute
any assistance, but my original is in such a tottering state that no
time should be lost.”
Thus the beautiful High Cross which once adorned the city of Bristol may
now, through the liberality of sir R. C. Hoare, be transplanted (if we
may use the expression) to its native soil, after a banishment of
fifty-seven years. Its reappearance in the College-green would be
beautiful and highly appropriate.
At a meeting of the Bristol Philosophical and Literary Society on the
19th April, 1827, Mr. Richard Smith read a paper from Thomas Garrard,
Esq. the chamberlain of Bristol, on the subject of the High Cross,
together with a brief notice of “the well of St. Edith” in Peter-street.
The latter, as well as the remains of the Cross, are still preserved at
sir R. C. Hoare’s at Stourton. Many other interesting particulars may be
found in the Bristol Mirror, April 28, 1827.