Chelmsford, Tindal Square 1906

Photo ref: 56881

More about this scene

Elizabeth gave one Chelmsfordian another cause to smile: in 1563, she sold the manor of Chelmsford to Thomas Mildmay. Three years later he was dead. In the terms of his will, however, he left instructions that his estate - which now consisted of Moulsham and Chelmsford - should remain in one piece as it passed to his successive male heirs. This bequest was known as the Mildmay Entail. No sooner had Thomas Mildmay obtained the manor of Chelmsford than the townspeople began to clamour for a new Market Cross: the old one was falling down around the judges' ears. He died before anything could be done, but his son, Sir Thomas, revamped the building in 1569. It still took the form of an open space with a roof. The latter had dormer windows and stood on eight oak pillars. The judge, jury and other court officials sat in the open space, while the first-come spectators were able to watch from a gallery that ran around the inside of the building, below the rafters. Everyone else simply watched from the street. Some of the Market Cross's duties were, in due course, farmed out to a second courthouse. Known as the Little Cross, this was a weatherboarded building just to the west of the Cross itself. It dealt mainly with civil cases. It also contributed greatly to the town's congestion problems.