The story behind Carperby Market Cross

One of my favourite pubs in Wensleydale is the Wheatsheaf Inn at Carperby, a regular lunchtime stop on my Dales Highlights tours and also the pub where the real James Herriot – Alf Wight spent his honeymoon. As I drive past Aysgarth and through the village of Carperby to the pub, you pass a wonderful stone cross sitting on a stepped plinth in a triangle of grass towards the west end of the village.

I stopped with one of my guests to take some photos and decided to find a bit more out about the history of the cross. I hope my findings will be of interest!

As you drive across the Yorkshire Dales or other areas of Yorkshire you often come across standing crosses outside church yards, on village greens, along ancient routeways or in market squares. These free standing upright stone structures were mostly erected during the medieval period up to the 1500’s, although many have been repaired or replaced more recently.

At one point historic England believe that there were over 12,000 of these crosses distributed throughout England.

Many of these crosses were used within settlements for outdoor preaching, defining rights of sanctuary or boundary markers with some of these crosses being linked to particular saints who had become associated with the village or town.

As well as preaching, as towns and villages began to receive Market Charters the crosses began to become the central point for the local market, sometimes becoming known as Butter Crosses due to the sale of dairy produce which often occurred on their steps

As the number of churches grew and people stopped having quite the need to be preached to in the open air, these crosses started having a different purpose. This also tied in with the time of the reformation.

Sadly at the time of the reformation many of the crosses heads were destroyed by iconclasts. A lot of these crosses just consist now of a vertical shaft without the cross piece and it is estimated only 2,000 crosses in various states of repair still exist.

Instead of religious use the crosses started to be used more for municipal purposes or ceremonies. Places were public announcements would take place, where commercial activity continued to take place with the selling goods from around the cross.

The most common form of remaining cross is the stepped cross, where the shaft is set in a socket stone and raised upon a flight of steps. This type of cross is also one of the oldest types often dating from the 11th to 12th centuries.

The cross in the small settlement of Carperby in Wensleydale fits into this category.  The Grade II listed monument is made of sandstone and has a square base consisting of 7 stone steps, which measures 4.5m x 4.5m at the bottom step. Onto this sits an octaganol cross shaft which tapers into the base.

Carperby was actually granted a market charter in 1305 by Edward I, allowing it to hold a weekly market – this was actually one of the earliest charters in the Northern Dales. But documents show that in 1587 the market ceased to be as a larger market started to take place in nearby Askrigg.

The cross we see in Carperby today apparently replaced a previous cross when a market was restarted in 1674. This would account for the date being carved on the north east face.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park believe that the steps upon which the cross sits are the original steps and on this basis the cross became a Scheduled Monument in 1995.

There is also the date 1843 carved in to the cross and it is believed that this is when it was last restored.

On the horizontal arms of the cross on the south west face, there is the inscription `RB' which is believed to have been a local benefactor or overseer from the later restoration.

There are unusually carvings of faces in low relief on the ends of the horizontal arms and as much as I have tried to find out about their significance I have drawn a blank. I can only assume that they were carved by the stone mason as added decoration.

So if you are visiting Wensleydale for a day out, a hike or a Herriot tour – don’t forget to visit Carperby and take a peek at the Market Cross. You could also nip into the Wheatsheaf for a cheeky pint too!