+Marine Biologist Posted September 1, 2014 Share Posted September 1, 2014 While in Scotland recently, I spotted several Mercat Crosses but they don't appear to fit any existing categories. They do NOT fit under the Christian Crosses or Churchyard Crosses categories. There are also Market Crosses elsewhere in the U.K., as well as in Canada and Australia, at least some of which do not fit the Christian Crosses or Churchyard Crosses categories. Here's a description from Wikipedia: "A market cross, or in Scots, a mercat cross, is a structure used to mark a market square in market towns, originally from the distinctive tradition in Early Medieval Insular art of free-standing stone standing or high crosses, often elaborately carved, which goes back to the 7th century. Market crosses can be found in most market towns in Britain, with those in Scotland known as mercat crosses. British emigrants often installed such crosses in their new cities and several can be found in Canada and Australia." Several examples are shown at the two Wikipedia links below: Mercat Crosses in Scotland - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercat_cross Market Crosses in Great Britain - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_cross Any ideas where these Mercat/Market Crosses might fit if they don't meet the existing Cross categories? Any interest in a new category? Quote Link to comment
+silverquill Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Sounds interesting. I'm just wondering if there are enough of these to merit a category. I don't think a category has to be huge to be viable, but these seem to have a limited distribution. I'd love to see some examples. Quote Link to comment
+Marine Biologist Posted September 4, 2014 Author Share Posted September 4, 2014 Sounds interesting. I'm just wondering if there are enough of these to merit a category. I don't think a category has to be huge to be viable, but these seem to have a limited distribution. I'd love to see some examples. Yes, the distribution appears to be limited primarily to the UK, with "several" also in Canada and Australia according to Wikipedia and at least one in Ireland (http://archiseek.com/2009/old-cross-monaghan-co-monaghan/#.VAh8F2MgscY). Based on my limited research to date and only counting the historic Mercat/Market Crosses, it looks like there are at least 126 in Scotland, 86 in England, 2 in Wales, 1 in Ireland, and 1 in Australia (located in Buchan in Victoria, Australia). This totals 216 known historic Mercat/Market Crosses. This doesn't take into account more recent imitations of such crosses placed in the UK (simply because I wasn't sure how to search for them). Anyway, I agree the distribution is limited and the number of such crosses may not be sufficient for a category. However, if anyone has specific information on additional crosses of this type that aren't listed at Wikipedia, please feel free to share that information here. Thanks! Quote Link to comment
+Marine Biologist Posted September 4, 2014 Author Share Posted September 4, 2014 It took quite a bit of inventive googling, but I finally found a few of the Mercat Crosses that I spotted in Scotland listed on the Historic Scotland website. So at least they have a good category to be posted under! Quote Link to comment
+dieSulzer Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 (edited) Hi, I think, this would be a very interesting new category! In Germany, it's called "Marktkreuz" and there is a famous market cross on the market in Trier, the oldest german town. Here a link from wikipedia: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauptmarkt_%28Trier%29#mediaviewer/File:Trier_Marktkreuz.jpg In my opinion, the best advantage from Waymarking is exactly to find such unknown points, around the world! So, I agree this new category! Best greetings, Andrea Edited September 17, 2014 by dieSulzer Quote Link to comment
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