Historical sketches of old Charing / [James Galloway].

  • James Galloway
Date:
[1914]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Historical sketches of old Charing / [James Galloway]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    74 by the Dunstable annalist of the arrival of the funeral procession, and the ceremony of consecration of the site where the “ lofty cross ” was subsequently erected. The cross is said to have been demolished by troops under the Earl of Essex, in 1643. Parts of the foundation of the cross have been met with during recent alterations in the roadway. St. Albans. The cross was erected in what became the Market Place of St. Albans by John Battle and his partners, some of the sculpture being supplied by Kalph of Chichester. The visit of the procession to St. Albans is especially noteworthy on account of the record remaining of the elabo- rate religious services in the Church of the great Benedictine Abbey during the night the procession rested there. In 1596 the cross is described as “verie stately.” There can be no doubt, however, that already the cross had suffered much damage by the lapse of time, as well as by neglect. At any rate, scant ceremony was shown to the cross in later years. It is stated to have been partly destroyed by order of Parliament in 1643; fragments, however, stood in the market place till the year 1702. In 1703 an octagonal market house was built on its site; in 1765 this became a pump house, and in 1872 the present drinking fountain in the centre of St. Albans was built on the conse- crated site of the “ verie stately cross.” Waltham. The cross at Waltham was constructed by Dyminge de Legeri (de Reyns) and Roger Crundale. Crundale was a near relative, pro- bably the brother, of Richard Crundale, the master mason at West- minster, and was obviously in close touch with the Westminster School. Dyminge de Legeri, of whom we have little knowledge—his name suggests a foreign origin—must have been a builder of recognized skill. It is possible that he may have been specially associated with Waltham Abbey. The cross occupies a position on the main road at Waltham, where a side road branched off leading to the important Augustinian house of Waltham Abbey. The platform from which the cross arose seems originally to have had ten steps. As the result of restorations this number has been diminished to four. From this platform the cross, which is hexagonal in design, arises. Each side of the lower story is
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