The cross carries its own admission that it is not original — the inscription reads 'Rebuilt 1777'.
The inscription on this cross does not claim it is old. It reads that the monument was rebuilt in 1777, which is an unusually candid thing for a burgh to cut into its own market cross, and it settles the question of what a visitor is looking at before anyone has to ask it.
The structure is plain. A square shaft, chamfered at the angles, with a moulded cornice near the top and a ball finial above it, standing on a square base and steps. There is no heraldry, no sundial, no beast.
What the rebuilding says is that the function still mattered. A cross of this kind was the token of a burgh’s trading privilege and the customary place for reading notices to the town. Putting up a new one in 1777 means Prestwick still had use for that fixed point, at a date when many Scottish burghs were letting their crosses fall or moving them out of the way.
The cross was formerly Scheduled Ancient Monument number 322, scheduled on 29 January 1955 and descheduled on 13 May 2016, when protection transferred to the listing. It is recorded in J. W. Small’s Scottish Market Crosses.
What follows is drawn from published sources, with each claim labelled by how firmly it is established.
History
The cross is a square shaft, chamfered at the angles, with a moulded cornice and a ball finial, resting on a square base and steps. It bears an inscription recording that it was rebuilt in 1777, so the stone declares its own status as a replacement rather than an original — an unusually candid thing for a burgh to cut into its own cross.
These crosses were the token of a burgh's trading privilege and the customary place for reading notices to the town. Rebuilding one in 1777 shows that the function was still worth maintaining in Prestwick at a date when many Scottish burghs were letting their crosses fall or shifting them out of the way of traffic. The cross was formerly Scheduled Ancient Monument number 322, scheduled on 29 January 1955 and descheduled on 13 May 2016, when protection passed to the listing rather than lapsing altogether. It is recorded in J. W. Small's Scottish Market Crosses, which is the standard published survey of the type.
Cultural influences
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A burgh’s commercial centre
The market cross embodied Prestwick’s trading privilege and remained the place for public notices; its rebuilding in 1777 shows that civic and commercial functions still mattered in the town.
Discovery & excavation
The cross records its own rebuilding in 1777 through an inscription; it was scheduled in 1955 and descheduled in 2016 when listing protection took over.
What to look for
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The rebuilding inscription
The shaft carries the date and the words recording that it was rebuilt in 1777.
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The ball finial
A plain ball sits above the moulded cornice at the head of the chamfered shaft.
Plan your visit
- Location
- 55.5015°N · 4.6111°W
- Nearest settlement
- Prestwick
- Access
- Visible from a public way
- Terrain
- Easy going
- Time needed
- About 20 minutes
Nearby places
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Dundonald Castle
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A fourteenth-century royal residence on a hill between Kilmarnock and Troon.
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Brig o' Doon
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Sold as a quarry to the builders of its replacement, then bought back before they could take it apart.
Ancient tree · Medieval
Bickering Bush
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Bickering Bush preserves the memory of a named hawthorn, its lost site tied to Caprington Castle lands and Wallace tradition.
- Near East Ayrshire
Questions people ask
- How old is the Prestwick cross?
- The present cross carries an inscription recording that it was rebuilt in 1777, so the standing structure dates from that year rather than from the market's origins.
- What does the cross look like?
- A chamfered square shaft with a moulded cornice and a ball finial, standing on a square base and steps.
Sources
- Historic Environment Scotland — Market Cross, Prestwick, LB40328
- John Small, Scottish Market Crosses
Explore more: Minor monuments · Medieval · South Ayrshire
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