Description:
Looking up Weekday Cross towards the junction of Middle Pavement and Fletcher Gate and showing the Public Assistance Department offices; Byard Lane is on the left. The baroque-style building to the left of the Public Assistance Department still exists. (Additional information kindly supplied by Graham Clarke).
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 (outside the offices in the centre)..