The Market Cross

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.