Bingley Market Hall And Butter Cross

While on a quick visit to the town of Bingley, in the Aire Valley, we came across an unexpectedly old building outside the Bingley Arts Centre. There was a long, covered building with open sides, a smaller square canopy over a large stone pillar and a set of stocks. A bit of investigating, and reading of the handy plaque on the wall, revealed that this was the Bingley Market Hall and Butter Cross.

In 1212, King John granted the town of Bingley its first Market Charter, which established the right of the inhabitants of Bingley to hold a weekly market and trade goods. It is thought that the Butter Cross dates to then.

A Butter Cross differs from a Market Cross in that it is a more substantial structure with a roof surrounding the stone cross. It is also thought to have been a location where diary products such as butter were traded and laid out on the steps. The surrounding structure of the Bingley Butter Cross dates from around 1754 and was built by Thomas Lister.

The Market Hall is a more recent structure, dating to around the late 17th or early 18th century. It comprises a long, low oak roof, supported on ashlar columns in the Doric style. The oak roof structure is covered with stone slates.

As its name suggests this would have been where later markets would be held and it is thought to date from around 1693 when a second Market Charter was obtained for Bingley from King William III and Queen Mary II for a Monday market.

The Market Hall and Butter Cross are a very well-travelled structure, at least in the Bingley area. Their original location was on the main street of Bingley, but in 1888 there was a proposal to widen the road and they were moved and re-erected in the Prince of Wales Park which sits on the northern edge of the town. A John Brown was paid the sum of £16, 6s and 0d to carry out the move.

In 1984 the Bingley Civic Trust drew up plans and started fund raising to move the structure back to the town centre, and thanks to donations from private individuals as well as the Bradford and Bingley Building Society and the Sam Chippendale Foundation they were able to do this. The Market Hall and Butter Cross have been in their current location outside Bingley Arts Centre since then and were handed over to Bradford Council by the Bingley Civic Trust on the 22.09.1984, spookily 41 years to the day before our visit!