Stourhead Gardens And The Bristol Cross

A Memory of Stourhead.

The Medieval Treasure Bristol Gave Away.

The Bristol Cross is one of the smaller architectural treasures of Britain - but it's one which Bristol's worthies were only too glad to give away. Today the Cross has pride of place at Stourhead, the world-famous 18th-century pleasure gardens which the banker Henry Hoare built near Mere in Wiltshire.

This medieval masterpiece was set up in Bristol in 1373 and it stood on High Street with its statues of our kings of England. More than two centuries later, in 1633, the figures of a further four monarchs were added, including one of Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth I, who had made such an impact during her visit to Bristol in 1574.

But Bristol's civic leaders declared this lovely monument an unsafe nuisance in its position on one of the city's busiest roads and in 1733 it was dismantled and moved to College Green where, if it fell down, it was less likely to hurt anyone.

Thirty years later the Cross was dismantled once again and this time its stones were piled into a corner of Bristol Cathedral for some later use. The heap of old masonry was a constant irritation to the cathedral staff and when the romantic Mr Hoare agreed to add it to his collection of follies at Stourhead, Bristol's leaders were delighted.

It has stayed at Stourhead ever since, a famous landmark at the entrance to one of the loveliest pleasure gardens in the world. A truncated Victorian replica stands in Berkeley Square near the top of Park Street.

Can we please have our cross back?