Description: A copy of a sketch by Thomas Sandby, looking into High Pavement, showing the Weekday Cross and the old Town Hall. (Sandby has also included a small inscription on a drawing of the Norman capitals in St Mary's in the bottom right corner.) Thomas Sandby was born in Nottingham in 1721, four years before the birth of his younger brother Paul - both grew up to be famous successful artists. Thomas settled as an architectural designer and draughtsman, attached to his Royal Patron at Windsor. His works show evidence of great talent but his occupation left him little time to produce many. The Weekday Cross was an ancient market site, in use from the Anglo-Saxon period until c 1800. A market was held here on Wednesdays and Fridays for butter, eggs, pigeon, wild fowl, fruit and fish. The Monday market for fresh vegetables and butter was moved from Weekday Cross to the 'Monday Cross', now St Peters Square. The south side of the area was removed in the late 19th century to build a tunnel leading to Victoria station. After the Norman Invasion of Britain, Nottingham was divided into two separate boroughs - English Borough and French Borough. The inhabitants of French Borough found it inconvenient to travel to market at Weekday Cross, and so a new market, which was held on Saturdays, was established in what is now the Old Market Square. Gradually, this Saturday market became of great importance and attracted the countryside, but Weekday Cross remained the centre of the domestic trade of Nottingham for many years after the Conquest. It is not known when actual Weekday Cross monument was erected, as market crosses are an ancient custom, we can assume that it was a considerable time ago. The cross, which stood in the north west corner of the market area, was altered and repaired all through Nottingham's history. It was first mentioned in 1549 and appears on the map of the city, dated 1610. The cross was pulled down in 1804. Weekday Cross, or Weekday Market, as it was then called, was the civic centre of mediaeval Nottingham, and as such had its bull ring which is mentioned in 1541. It was situated at the end of Fletcher Gate, which was the butchers' quarter in those days, and it remained there till 1691. The site of the ancient market well, which was fitted with a pump in 1636, is marked by the pillar-box. This illustration also shows the old Town Hall. The government of both the French and English boroughs of Nottingham was carried out in the English borough. When the merchants of the town were permitted to have a Guild to regulate trade they erected a Guild Hall on Weekday Cross. This building became the Court House and Town Hall when the borough had its own mayor and aldermen. By the 18th century the town's growing prosperity meant that the market place in the old French borough increased in importance and corporation had a greater administrative workload. Consequently, in 1722 the corporation decided to build a new town hall in the Market Place. This building became known as the Exchange and was used various social and ceremonial purposes. The old town hall on Weekday Cross continued to be used alongside the Exchange and was refaced with brick in 1744. The growth in municipal business in the 1870's underlined the inadequacy of the old town hall and so a new guildhall was opened in Burton Street and the old Town Hall was abandoned by the corporation in 1877. The Great Central Railway bought the site in 1894 for £70 and demolished the building the following year to make way for the railway line from Victoria Station which emerged from a tunnel at Weekday Cross.