Swaffham Market Cross is a Grade I listed building in the Breckland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 10 January 1951. A Post-Medieval Market cross. 1 related planning application.
Swaffham Market Cross
- WRENN ID
- bitter-joist-flax
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Breckland
- Constituency
- South West Norfolk MP: Terry Jermy (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 10 January 1951
- Type
- Market cross
- Period
- Post-Medieval
- Address
- Swaffham Market Cross, Market Place, Norfolk, PE37 7AB
- OS grid reference
- TF 819 089
- Coordinates
- 52.64742, 0.68825
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Swaffham Market Cross, also known as the Butter Cross, was built between 1781 and 1783 for George Walpole, the third Earl of Orford, likely designed by James Wyatt. It has undergone restorations in 1873, 1904, 1984, and 2018.
This circular structure is made of timber that is rendered and painted to resemble limestone, featuring a lead roof and a stone base. The exterior consists of a peristyle rotunda with a triple-stepped base that supports eight unfluted Roman Doric columns. These columns carry a plain entablature with a dentilled cornice. Two leaded steps lead into a half-round dome, which is topped by a statue of Ceres, the Roman goddess of corn and agriculture. She is depicted holding a cornucopia in her left hand and a sheaf of corn in her right hand.
Inside, the Market Cross has a stone-flagged floor beneath a dished plaster ceiling.
Local climate
Swaffham Market Cross sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 720 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 82% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 94% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 29 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 68% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- Full EPC report — heating system, energy costs, size, glazing, construction etc.
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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