Fraserburgh, Saltoun Square, Market Cross
Market Cross (18th Century)
Site Name Fraserburgh, Saltoun Square, Market Cross
Classification Market Cross (18th Century)
Canmore ID 20779
Site Number NJ96NE 8
NGR NJ 99791 67095
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/20779
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Fraserburgh
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Banff And Buchan
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NJ96NE 8 99791 67095
(NJ 9979 6710) Cross (NAT)
OS 25" map, Aberdeenshire, 1st ed., (1869).
The charter of erection of the market cross in Fraserburgh is dated 1613.
In 1858 only the shaft remained and that had been moved from the east side of the square where it once stood on the hexagonal basement, to the centre of the square.
The under part is comparatively modern but the shaft and upper part are old.
J Cranna 1914; Statistical Account (OSA) 1793 (J Sinclair); New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845 (Rev J Cumming);
J B Pratt 1858; J Small 1900.
The cross, with its modern base, is as described. The cross shaft bears the inscription 'LAS' and the date '1736'.
The former position of the cross could not be established.
Visited by OS (NKB) 16 January 1969.
Publication Account (2010)
A more immediate symbol of the community’s status as a trading burgh was its market cross. This was (and is) a grand affair, ‘a hexagon, with three equidistant angular abutments; the area of the base is 500 feet; by 9 intrenchings the top is contracted to 23 feet, on the middle of which is raised a stone pillar 12 feet high. The British arms, surmounting the armorial coat of Fraser of Philorth, adorn the summit’ (fig 12).
Information from ‘The Scottish Burgh Survey, Historic Fraserburgh: Archaeology and Development’, (2010).
