Preston Cross

Category

Library Item

Item no

29048

Title

Preston Cross

Description

A market cross, with brick built base and a tall central pillar topped with a unicorn carving stands next to a small footpath and surrounded by planting and trees.

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1879

Size

15.5 cm x 12.0 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Preston Cross stands where the heart of the town of Salt Preston once stood. A Mercat cross stands as a symbol of the right to hold markets in an area and this cross was erected by the Hamilton family soon after they were granted a royal charter to hold weekly markets and annual fairs in the town. In the base of the structure there is also a small room which served as the town prison. Several similar crosses were built at the time in Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen to name but a few but all were destroyed or relocated making Preston Cross the only one which still stands in its original spot even though the town of Preston no longer exists. In the image above the cross stood in a working market garden which has since given way to a small modern housing estate on the outskirts of modern Prestonpans which is an incongruous placement for such an historic and beautiful monument.

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Related subjects

Animals > Mythical > Unicorns

Architecture > Monuments > Market Crosses

Landscape > Landscape architectural facilities > Walls

Landscape > Water > Reservoirs

Places > Scotland > East Lothian

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Places > Scotland > Prestonpans

Plants > Flowers > Flowers

Plants > Trees > Trees

Transport > Infrastructure > Footpaths