The Market Cross is a Grade II* listed building in the Somerset local planning authority area, England. First listed on 12 November 1953. Market cross. 5 related planning applications.
The Market Cross
- WRENN ID
- fallen-pinnacle-claret
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Somerset
- Constituency
- Wells and Mendip Hills MP: Tessa Munt (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 12 November 1953
- Type
- Market cross
- Address
- The Market Cross, Market Place, Wells, BA5 2RN
- OS grid reference
- ST 549 457
- Coordinates
- 51.20929, -2.64567
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Market Cross is a market cross with a fountain, built around 1797 by Harcourt Masters of Bath. It is made of limestone and features a triangular-plan monument in Gothic style with a classical base, set in a circular pool. The base is rusticated, with frosted rustication on the corner shafts. The northwest and southwest faces have pointed-arched recesses that once served as outlets for water, while the east face features a cascade.
The central block above has ogee-arched openings with flower carvings on the architraves, framed by five-shafted columns with foliate capitals, topped with finials that also have frosted rustication. The center section is crowned by a shallow coved cornice adorned with similar flower-type carvings, and the corners and ogee-domed top have frosted rustication finials. The pool is surrounded by a wall with a chamfered plinth and moulded coping, and there are platforms on the northwest and southwest faces that breach the pool.
Historically, this structure replaced Bishop Beckynton's conduit, which was demolished in 1796, and it was gravity fed by a pump house located in the garden of the Bishop's Palace. The construction cost was £150.
Local climate
The Market Cross receives an average of 860 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 62% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 70% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 34 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 52% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 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.
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2018
- Related listed building consents — 5 applications
- 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
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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