Dunster Butter Cross
The Butter Cross stands in the village of Dunster in Somerset is a Grade II* listed building and ancient monument.[1][2][3]
The cross was originally erected in the late 14th or early 15th century in the main street and moved to its current site on Alcombe Road in the late 18th or early 19th century. Although the head of the cross is missing the shaft and socket stone are original. The cross is in the care of English Heritage for the state and managed by the National Trust.
History
The name Buttercross originates from their location in market places, where people from neighbouring villages would gather around the market cross to buy locally produced products.[4] The fresh produce was laid out and displayed on the stepped bases of the cross. The market in Dunster attracted people from surrounding villages and towns as far away as Taunton and Bodmin.[5] The Dunster Butter Cross was erected in the late 14th or early 15th century and originally stood in the High Street, possibly at the southern end of the high street, near the Yarn Market.[6] A cross, which was later known as the high cross, was recorded in 1461; by 1689 it was known as the Butter Cross.[4]
The Butter Cross was moved to its current location on the edge of the village by Alcombe Road, although the date when this was done is unclear. The site where the cross now stands was leveled in 1776 by workman, paid by Henry Fownes Luttrell, and it may have been on this occasion that the cross was moved.[7] An alternative local tradition is that it was moved in 1825, although a drawing by J. M. W. Turner made in 1811 suggests it was in its present position by then.[8]
The cross is in the care of English Heritage for the state and managed by the National Trust.[9]
Architecture
The cross comprises a shaft with a plinth and socket stone forming the base. The cross's octagonal base and polygonal shaft have survived, however the head of the cross has been lost.[1][10] It stands on a small area of raised ground on a plinth. The socket stone is 3 feet wide and a foot and a half high. The surviving shaft is 4 feet high and changes from square to octagonal as it rises.[2] There is an inscription on the northern face which says "WC, 1871, WS" recording a restoration.[2]
See also
- Dunster Castle
- Dunster Yarn Market
- Dunster Watermill
- Dunster Dovecote
- Priory Barn
- Gallox Bridge
- Conygar Tower
Outside links
- Butter Cross - English Heritage
- Location map: 51°11’6"N, 3°26’56"W
- Streetmap: SS988438
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 National Heritage List 1345602: The Butter Cross, Dunster
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 National Heritage List 1014409: Butter Cross, Dunster
- ↑ "Butter Cross, Dunster". Exmoor National Park. http://www.exmoorher.co.uk/hbsmr-web/record.aspx?UID=MSO9415-Butter-Cross-Dunster.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Siraut, Mary. "Dunster Market Place and its Buildings". Victoria County History. http://www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/explore/sites/explore/files/explore_assets/2014/04/14/dunster_market_place_and_its_buildings.doc. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
- ↑ "Dunster's market and fair". Victoria County History. http://www.victoriacountyhistory.ac.uk/explore/items/dunsters-market-and-fair. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
- ↑ Henry Maxwell Lyte (1880). "Dunster and its Lords". The Archaeological Journal 37: 285. doi:10.5284/1018054. http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-1132-1/dissemination/pdf/037/037_057-093_155-179_271-293_395-405.pdf.
- ↑ "The Butter Cross at Dunster". Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser (British Newspaper Archive). 26 September 1942. http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000528/19420926/024/0004. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- ↑ "Dunster: The Butter Cross, St George's Church, the Castle and Conygar Tower". Tate. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-dunster-the-butter-cross-st-georges-church-the-castle-and-conygar-tower-d08955. Retrieved 15 June 2014.
- ↑ Butter Cross@
- ↑ Butter Cross: History and research
