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Ludlow Buttercross
The Buttercross in Ludlow, Shropshire, England, is a market hall dating from 1746. Such market halls, or crosses, may derive from the high crosses or free-standing stones of the Early Mediaeval period. In the Middle Ages they were often used as gathering points in the centres of communities, generally as venues for regular markets. Beneath the hall was an open arcade, now partly enclosed, where stalls selling produce could be set up. The Buttercross was designed by a local architect, William Baker of Audlem, and is a Grade I listed building. HistoryMarket crosses or halls can be found in the centres of many British towns and cities.[1] Although their origins are unclear, they are generally believed to derive from the High crosses or free-standing stones of the Early Mediaeval period.[1][a] In the Middle Ages they frequently became the focal point for marketplaces, where communities gathered to trade.[3] Historic England suggests that the presence of a cross in a marketplace may have served to “validate transactions”.[4] James Masschaele, in his study, The Public Space of the Marketplace in Medieval England, notes that marketplaces also served an important social function as a location for the “retailing of news and gossip”.[5] Their religious associations led to many crosses being damaged or destroyed during the Reformation and in the aftermath of the Civil War.[6][7] The Ludlow Buttercross dates from 1746.[8][9] Its architect, William Baker (1705–1771) was active in Shropshire and its adjacent counties in the middle of the 18th century. In Ludlow, and elsewhere, a major patron was Henry Herbert, later created Earl of Powis, who sat as member of parliament for the Ludlow constituency, and served on the town's council and as the county's Lord Lieutenant.[10][b] As well as providing the venue for the town's market, the Buttercross housed the town's council chamber on its upper floor. The council moved out to the Guildhall in 2012, and the Buttercross is now occupied by the town's museum.[13] Architecture and descriptionThe Buttercross is of two storeys and three bays fronted by a portico, with a pedimented roof and a clock set into a cupola above. The building material is cut stone from the Grinshill quarry in the north of the county.[8] Baker clearly took the design from plates illustrating James Gibbs' Book of Architecture, published in 1728.[8] The bell in the cupola was acquired from the old St Leonard's Church on Corve Street.[9] John Newman, in the revised Shropshire volume in The Buildings of England series published in 2006, said of Baker's work at the Buttercross; "[while] not polished, it has an attractiveness robustness".[8] Notes
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