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Mercat & Other Non-Christian Market Crosses


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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?

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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!

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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 by dieSulzer
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