THE Cross in the Market Place is unlikely to be religious but merely marked the place where market tolls were payable.
It was pulled down by John Manners, Lord of the Manor, in 1779, but an action was brought by Alderman Thomas Stanser, against him for the trespass, and Manners was compelled to restore it the following year as Royal Proclamations were to be made from it.
But that didn’t stop his son William repeating the feat in 1796 but again was forced to put it back..
The Manners family tried yet again in 1884 when this time they replaced it with a granite obelisk .
But in 1910 the cross was returned and re-erected by G E Priest of Wharf Road, following a campaign by the deputy mayor, William Plumb.
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