f its existence has completely passed away. Happily not
all have disappeared, and in our travels we shall be able to discover
many of these interesting specimens of ancient art, but not a tithe of
those that once existed are now to be discovered.

Many causes have contributed to their disappearance. The Puritans
waged insensate war against the cross. It was in their eyes an idol
which must be destroyed. They regarded them as popish superstitions,
and objected greatly to the custom of "carrying the corse towards the
church all garnished with crosses, which they set down by the way at
every cross, and there all of them devoutly on their knees make
prayers for the dead."[45] Iconoclastic mobs tore down the sacred
symbol in blind fury. In the summer of 1643 Parliament ordered that
all crucifixes, crosses, images, and pictures should be obliterated or
otherwise destroyed, and during the same year the two Houses passed a
resolution for the destruction of all crosses throughout the kingdom.
They ordered Sir Robert Harlow to superintend the levelling to the
ground of St. Paul's Cross, Charing Cross, and that in Cheapside, and
a contemporary print shows the populace busily engaged in tearing down
the last. Ladders are placed against the structure, workmen are busy
hammering the figures, and a strong rope is attached to the actual
cross on the summit and eager hands are dragging it down. Similar
scenes were enacted in many other towns, villages, and cities of
England, and the wonder is that any crosses should have been left. But
a vast number did remain in order to provide further opportunities for
vandalism and wanton mischief, and probably quite as many have
disappeared during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as those
which were destroyed by Puritan iconoclasts. When trade and commerce
developed, and villages grew into towns, and sleepy hollows became
hives of industry, the old market-places became inconveniently small,
and market crosses with their usually accompanying stocks and
pillories were swept away as useless obstructions to traffic.[46] Thus
complaints were made with regard to the market-place at Colne. There
was no room for the coaches to turn. Idlers congregated on the steps
of the cross and interfered with the business of the place. It was
pronounced a nuisance, and in 1882 was swept away. Manchester market
cross existed until 1816, when for the sake of utility and increased
space it was removed. A stately Ja