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    Bristol High Cross - Dissertation

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    Bristol High Cross - Dissertation

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    Jennifer Adviento
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    Bristol High Cross - Dissertation

    Uploaded by

    Jennifer Adviento
    scdccscsc

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    Bristol High Cross - dissertation

    This dissertation written by Christopher Buck

    Bristol High Cross is a monumental market cross erected in 1373 in the centre of Bristol. It was
    built in Decorated Gothic style on the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon cross, to commemorate the
    granting of a charter by Edward III to make Bristol a county, separate from Somerset and
    Gloucestershire. In 1764 it was moved to the Stourhead estate in Wiltshire, where it still stands.
    Construction
    The cross stood in the centre of the town, at the crossroads of its four main streets. After it was
    enlarged in 1663, it was in four tiers. The base was four octagonal piers with cusped ogee
    arches. The next two tiers contained alcoves with statues of English monarchs. The top tier was
    a pinnacle with the actual cross as a finial.

    The cross's central location made it the natural place for special events. In 1399, supporters of
    Richard II were beheaded there by order of Henry Bolinbroke, after a short siege of Bristol.
    These included Richard's Lord High Treasurer, William le Scrope, Sir John Bussy and Sir Henry
    Green. The following year, Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester, was beheaded there for
    his part in the Epiphany Rising against Bolinbroke who was now King Henry IV. It remains there
    now in the care of the National Trust.
    Replica
    The Victorian citizens of Bristol sought to regain their cross but the original was now too fragile
    to be moved again. In 1851 they commissioned architect John Norton to build a replica which
    would again stand upon College Green. Norton inspected the original closely to copy its design
    and then engaged John Thomas, the celebrated mason and stone carver who had recently
    worked upon the new Palace of Westminster, to construct the body of the cross. The funds for
    the work were exhausted after only one statue had been completed—Edward III—and so the
    replica stood for many years with the other alcoves remaining empty. The remaining statues,
    commissioned from a prolific craftsman of the region, Harry Hems, were eventually installed in
    1889, after the cross had been moved from the apex to the centre of the green to make way for
    the new jubilee statue of Queen Victoria.
    Statues
    Four of the statues of the original cross at Stourhead were replaced by replicas in 1980, with the
    originals placed on indefinite loan with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
    See also
    Bewell's Cross
    References

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