85: Wymondham Market Cross

Markets were the historical lifeblood of many Norfolk towns – and in Wymondham this tradition is illustrated by the town’s market cross.

Okay, what is a market cross?

Wymondham Cross
Wymondham Market Cross

As with so many things with medieval origins, it had a spiritual and secular significance much of which has been lost in the mists of time, so we have to speculate a little. Wymondham’s market cross is particularly fine. Because of a spectacular crime committed nearly 400 years ago we know more about it than most. Market crosses date back to the early years of Christianity in this country. Anglo-Saxons put them up in churchyards across England. The historical theory is that originally they were places where travellers could gather to pray but, people being people, they became convenient places at which do business. Most likely they were rudimentary constructions – a cross on stilts perhaps. By the 13th century the Church was beginning to frown on commerce conducted on holy ground, and pressed for them to be moved out. They were backed up by monarchs like Edward I. In 1285 he decreed that “henceforth neither fairs nor markets be kept in churchyards for the honour of the Church”. Very few people argued with Edward, the ‘Hammer of the Scots’, so it may have been about this time that Wymondham’s market cross was moved into the town, and its recorded history began.

A thriving community?

Wymondham was founded in Anglo- Saxon times. The town was probably founded by a leader called Wigmund, the ‘ham’ ending denoting a village or settlement, and at the time of Domesday was known as Wimundham (did people already pronounce it ‘Windum?’). Although the town’s first Friday market charter was granted by King John in 1204, it is almost certain that markets were already being held in the growing settlement. The town had been put on the map by the building of the abbey a century earlier, although it was not always an easy relationship between town and gown. We do not know what the original cross looked like, but it probably started out as a simple cross on a raised base. Market traders would gather in its wake, and sell goods. By the late 16th century though, it may have been like a small town hall with an upper chamber over an open arcade where goods could be sold or stalls set up by licensed traders. Trade was heavily regulated; the religious significance of the cross meant a deal struck on its steps was seen as particularly binding to both parties. The market clerk would ring a bell to open and close trading (rather as they do today in the New York Stock Exchange) and anyone caught trading outside these hours would be in trouble. As happens today at farmers’ markets, traders would bring in produce and sell it from stalls.

What if you broke the rules?

The significance of the market cross went deep. For trading outside hours you would be fined, but it was also a place of more severe punishment. In 1713 Robert Barret and William Broughton were hanged from a gallows there for the robbery and murder of one James Pointer on Silfield Common. Other criminals were whipped at the cross, probably including vagrants and beggars. Royal proclamations were read there, as were marriage banns. During funerals, corpses being carried to the abbey church were laid down at the cross for people to pray. Markets were at the centre of town ritual. Until the 16th century trade guilds regularly went in procession to the cross and performed religious ‘mystery plays’ during fairs. It was at one of these events in 1549 that Robert Kett’s rebellion broke out. Kett, a Wymondham man, eventually marched on Norwich – with bloody consequences.

And the 400-year-old crime?

In June, 1615 three gipsies with a grudge against the town – William and John Flodder and Ellen Pendleton – and local woman Margaret Bix started a fire. By this time houses in the growing town were tightly packed, and the blaze grew. A total of 327 people lost houses and goods, and the market cross was destroyed. After the arsonists were hanged for the crime, the townspeople had a problem. Although the fire had caused damage to the tune of £15,000 – a vast sum in those days, and a huge blow to people of limited means – they were determined to replace their cross, clear evidence of how important it was to them. Philip Cullyer, a fairly well-off farmer who was chief constable of the Forehoe Hundred, provided £25 7s for the new building, which was eventually repaid. The building we see today, with its circular design on wooden stilt-like posts accessed by stairs to the upper room, was created. In 1618 the lord of the manor, Sir Henry Hobart of Blickling, was invited to the grand reopening of the cross, where he dined on “wine, sugar, beer and cakes”. It was business as usual.

Any more excitement?

The townspeople had to see off an attempt by Sir Henry Hobart’s officers to set up rival shops on Market Hill. A robust petition to Sir Henry saw off the plan. Things went on smoothly until the arrival of the railway in the 1840s prompted a decline in the Friday market, and the upper room of the market cross was converted to a subscription reading and news room. Wear and tear took its toll; in 1863 it was restored while local man H Rider Haggard, author of King Solomon’s Mines, raised cash for repairs 30 years later. By the 1980s the cross was on its last legs – unusable with an unsafe staircase and sunken posts. Builders G E Atthowe of Norwich and architects Fielden & Mawson undertook desperately-needed restoration after an appeal raised £17,000 towards a total cost of £94,000. The building is now Wymondham’s tourist information centre. The market remains important to Wymondham, still being held each Friday. Farmers’ markets are held on the third Saturday of each month from 9am to 1pm. Thanks to Wymondham Heritage Society for information.