Cross was at the heart of the city community
MOST of us probably think Gloucester Cross is so named because it’s the meeting point of Eastgate, Westgate, Southgate and Northgate Streets.
But in time gone by this spot was celebrated by the city’s High Cross. Built in stone and dating from the early 13th century, this monument had more than ornamental and religious significance, as it was also one of Gloucester’s few water sources.
A two-mile-long pipeline brought spring water from Robinswood Hill to the conduit, and city folk gathered here daily with their buckets. Street traders set up their stalls in the shadow of the Cross, so we can imagine that it was a place at the heart of the community.
During its life, the High Cross was altered many times until by the late 16th century the structure stood about 35ft high with life-size carved figures of England’s sovereigns standing in niches on each of the Cross’s eight sides.
According to local lore, some of these statues of kings and queens were taken from a similar cross that stood in College Green until its demolition in the 1640s. Other monarchs were added later and corporation documents tell us that a likeness of Charles 1 was an addition to the Cross in 1660.
Oliver Cromwell was no stranger to Gloucester, having served as lord high steward of the city, for which he received a salary of £5 per year. When he became Protector of the Commonwealth after the English Civil War, warty old Oliver arrived in Gloucester with his Roundheads, en route to give the Welsh a bashing for their rebellious tendencies.
His party stopped at the Cross and were met by civic dignitaries, who offered wine. Cromwell is reported to have replied that he’d have ale instead, preferring good ale to bad wine.
An entry in the Chamberlain’s accounts tells us that Cromwell guzzled a quart of ale (3d’s worth) and his officers slurped 11 shillings worth of wine.
We perhaps think that traffic congestion is a modern nuisance, but in 1750 an Act of Parliament was granted for the removal of the High Cross on grounds that it impeded the flow of vehicles and pedestrians.
Consequently, on November 5 the following year this notice appeared in the Gloucester Journal: “This week was taken down for the better conveniency of carriages our ancient cross round which were the effigies of several of our illustrious kings and queens; of which curious pieces of antiquity particular draughts have, however, been taken by the famous Mr Rickets of this city, pursuant to an order from the Society of Antiquaries in London, to whom they are sent, that they may be preserved to latest posterity”.
Was any of the city’s Cross saved? Well, a Gloucester guide of 1924 tells us, “All that remains of this interesting structure is one of the figures, now in private possession at Westbury-on-Severn.” Perhaps it’s still there.
Around the ancient cross in Cheltenham’s Minster churchyard the town’s market was staged in times gone by. King Henry III granted Cheltenham the right to hold its weekly market in 1226 and the tradition limps on to this day, although now the venue is the High Street car park. If you’re eagle-eyed, search the churchyard entrance from the Clarence Street side and you’ll find a pair of brass markers set into the pavement three feet apart. These were originally used by stall traders to measure lengths of cloth.
Old lithographs show the column of Cheltenham’s cross surmounted by a stone cube. But by 1900 this had been replaced by a crucifix.
The evangelist John Wesley preached from this cross on half a dozen occasions. On the first of these in 1744, he didn’t find the congregation attentive. “It was as if I was talking Greek to them,” he wrote.
Tewkesbury’s cross stands at the meeting point of the town’s three main roads – High Street, Church Street and Barton Street. The present structure was erected in 1920 as a war memorial, but a previous cross was built on the site in about 1500 to commemorate the Battle of Tewkesbury.
In 1650, the original cross was unceremoniously taken down and its stones used to repair the Long Bridge.
After the Battle of Tewkesbury, soldiers on the Lancastrian side were executed where the cross now stands.