Banns of marriage were published here in Cromwell's
time, and these crosses have witnessed all the cruel punishments which
were inflicted on delinquents in the "good old days." The last step of
the cross was often well worn, as it was the seat of the culprits who
sat in the stocks. Stocks, whipping-posts, and pillories, of which we
shall have much to say, always stood nigh the cross, and as late as
1822 a poor wretch was tied to a cart-wheel at the Colne Cross,
Lancashire, and whipped.
Sometimes the cross is only a cross in name, and an obelisk has
supplanted the Christian symbol. The change is deemed to be
attributable to the ideas of some of the Reformers who desired to
assert the supremacy of the Crown over the Church. Hence they placed
an orb on the top of the obelisk surmounted by a small, plain Latin
cross, and later on a large crown took the place of the orb and cross.
At Grantham the Earl of Dysart erected an obelisk which has an
inscription stating that it occupies the site of the Grantham Eleanor
cross. This is a strange error, as this cross stood on an entirely
different site on St. Peter's Hill and was destroyed by Cromwell's
troopers. The obelisk replaced the old market cross, which was
regarded with much affection and reverence by the inhabitants, who in
1779, when it was taken down by the lord of the manor, immediately
obtained a mandamus for its restoration.
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