Sir,—At the time a recent reference was being made in your columns to these interesting brass (or bronze) pillars outside the Exchange at Bristol, I was using them as illustration of a particular phase of the evolution of market sites from pre-historic mark-stones in a lantern lecture I gave here on mark-stones. Permit me to give an outline of this, first mentioning that I claim no knowledge of these individual pillars beyond that given in guide books.
In the straight “point to point” tracks made—chiefly for trading purposes—in pre-historic days, intermediate points were marked with (in addition to artificial mounds and moats) unworked stones. Some of these were “long” stones, others flat-topped. There are all kinds of indications that some of these became centres of trading, and they usually stood at a crossing of tracks. We have the Whetstone near Kingston, the Huxter’s Stone in the Longmynds, the Pedlar’s Stone near Hay. Traditions are known in several cities (Hereford and Winchester) of temporary trading during the time of plague taking place at a stone near the city boundary, on which the exchange was made.
The stone frequently had a successor in a market cross, as a “Butter Cross.” At Grosmont a fourteenth century table stone still stands in the market house, and the pre-historic stone was, until ten years ago, near by. At Pembridge, Herefordshire, the pre-historic stone stands adjoining the quaint Tudor timber market shed, and supporting the base of one of the wood pillars is the socket stone of a fourteenth century village cross, the three stages of mark-stone, market cross, and market house being thus represented.
A study of the history of the word “mark” (march or merch), one of its early uses being a point to aim at, shows plainly that both the words “market” (old form merchate) and “merchant” (one old form marchant) are derived from “mark.” And although a “march” is now a boundary, it is more likely that an early “marchant” would march along a trackway to trade at the stones which marked that track than that he would travel along the boundaries only. Traditions of rents (as at Knightlow) and monies laid on a stone are frequent.
One of the Bristol nails is older than the others; it is evidently the one which superseded the original mark stone
which created the market, as it was at the old Tolzey about 1550. It is also evident that too much business was done for
one table or “counter” to accommodate, and that the three others given from 1625 to 1631 supplied this want.
And now the corn merchants who flock to Bristol Exchange have forgotten their use, and do not know their link with
Bristol market, the time being gone by for “pitching” the corn on the stone pitching, and planking down the
coin as “cash on the nail.”
ALFRED WATKINS.
5, Harley Court, Hereford.
Source info: Cuttings agency.