Crail, Market Cross. View from south.

Description Crail, Market Cross. View from south.

Date c. 1890

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 739275

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of F 1926

Scope and Content Marketgate, Crail, Fife, looking north-east Marketgate, a broad thoroughfare that runs parallel to the shore, is one of Crail's oldest streets, and once formed one of the largest medieval market-places in Europe. The Scottish photographer, Erskine Beveridge, photographed Marketgate on a visit to Crail c.1890. The street is rough and unsurfaced, and has a roadway lined with newly-planted trees running down the centre. The houses on the north side include Friar's Court (left), a late 17th-century rubble-built, three-storeyed house with crowsteps and a wall-head chimney, and Kirkmay House, an early 19th-century house well hidden behind elaborate gate piers and an long garden wall (centre). In the foreground is the market cross, re-erected on this site in 1887 for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. Its early 17th-century square chamfered shaft is original, but the capital, unicorn finial and stepped base are 19th-century additions. The market or mercat cross was the symbol of the burgh's authority and was normally situated in a prominent position in relation to the whole market area. Important public proclamations were made here, business deals were done, and public punishments on local wrong-doers carried out. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/739275

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap