On its
steps the Duke of Monmouth was proclaimed king, and from the window of
the Old Angel Inn Judge Jeffreys watched with pleasure the hanging of
the deluded followers of the duke from the tie-beams of the Market
Arcade. Dunster market cross is known as the Yarn Market, and was
erected in 1600 by George Luttrell, sheriff of the county of Somerset.
The town was famous for its kersey cloths, sometimes called
"Dunsters," which were sold under the shade of this structure.
Wymondham, in the county of Norfolk, standing on the high road between
Norwich and London, has a fine market cross erected in 1617. A great
fire raged here in 1615, when three hundred houses were destroyed, and
probably the old cross vanished with them, and this one was erected to
supply its place.
The old cross at Wells, built by William Knight, bishop of Bath in
1542, was taken down in 1783. Leland states that it was "a right
sumptuous Peace of worke." Over the vaulted roof was the _Domus
Civica_ or town hall. The tolls of the market were devoted to the
support of the choristers of Wells Cathedral. Leland also records a
market cross at Bruton which had six arches and a pillar in the middle
"for market folkes to stande yn." It was built by the last abbot of
Bruton in 1533, and was destroyed in 1790.
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