poor substitute for the old cross.

[Illustration: Under the old Butter Cross, Whitney Oxon]

One of the uses of the market cross was to inculcate the sacredness of
bargains. There is a curious stone erection in the market-place at
Middleham, Yorkshire, which seems to have taken the place of the
market cross and to have taught the same truth. It consists of a
platform on which are two pillars; one carries the effigy of some
animal in a kneeling posture, resembling a sheep or a cow, the other
supports an octagonal object traditionally supposed to represent a
cheese. The farmers used to walk up the opposing flights of steps when
concluding a bargain and shake hands over the sculptures.[47]

[47] _Ancient Crosses and Holy Wells of Lancashire,_ by Henry
Taylor, F.S.A.

BOUNDARY CROSSES

Crosses marked in medieval times the boundaries of ecclesiastical
properties, which by this sacred symbol were thus protected from
encroachment and spoliation. County boundaries were also marked by
crosses and meare stones. The seven crosses of Oldham marked the
estate owned by the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.

CROSSES AT CROSS-ROADS AND HOLY WELLS

Where roads meet and many travellers passed a cross was often erected.
It was a wayside or weeping cross. There pilgrims knelt to implore
divine aid for their journey and protection from outlaws and robbers,
from accidents and sudden death. At holy wells the cross was set in
order to remind the frequenters of the sacredness of the springs and
to wean them from all superstitious thoughts and pagan customs. Sir
Walter Scott alludes to this connexion of the cross and well in
_Marmion_, when he tells of "a little fountain cell" bearing the
legend:--

Drink, weary pilgrim, drink and pray
For the kind soul of Sybil Grey,
Who built this cross and well.

"In the corner of a field on the Billington Hall Farm, just
outside the parish of Haughton, there lies the base, with a
portion of the shaft, of a fourteenth-century wayside cross. It
stands within ten feet of an old disused lane leading from
Billington to Bradley. Common report pronounced it to be an old
font. Report states that it was said to be a stone dropped out of
a cart as the stones from Billington Chapel were being conveyed to
Bradley to be used in building its churchyard wall. A
superstitious veneration has always attached to it. A former owner
of the property wrote as follo