Publication Account

Date 1998

Event ID 1019247

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1019247

The focal point of town life was the market cross figure 18 & 23.L. According to early illustrations and maps, the original site of the cross was closer to the top of Abbey Street; and this is confirmed by the fact that it is known fron documentary evidence that it stood in front of the main entrance to the abbey figure 8. Very little of the original cross now remains. An engraving of about 1814 shows the cross with a stepped base. This base was replaced sometime in the nineteeth century. The original shaft was so worn that it, too, had to be replaced as recently as 1988, although the staple that held the jougs was fitted to the new shaft. The jougs were an iron neck ring on a chain where offenders were held for punishment and public ridicule. The finial, a unicorn, holding between its front feet a shield bearing the royal arms, was mounted on a square capital, which bore the date 1645 and the initials of the contemporary burgh superior, John, earl of Haddington. It is believed, however, that this date commemorated restoration work to the cross, rather than its construction date. A mallet and rose, a pun on the name 'Melrose' was also represented. Both the finial and the capital were so weather-worn that they, too, were renewed in 1990.

Information from ‘Historic Melrose: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1998).