Market Cross, Chichester

The Market Cross in Chichester has been a popular meeting place since it was built c.1500 by Edward Story, Bishop of Chichester. It was also built to give poor people somewhere to sell their wares. Nowadays you can still see the odd stall around the Cross; today it was a fruit stall (4 punnets of juicy raspberries for £2.50) and a Cats Protection League tent. I didn’t want to make a standing order to the Cats Protection League but they couldn’t accept a cash donation, so I have to find some other way of doing it. Shame. I wonder how many other people would have put a pound or more in a bucket.

I took my place in history today as I waited for Harvey inside the cross, extremely cold and draughty. The whole building is showing signs of wear ( who wouldn’t at 500 years old) and it set me to thinking about how we esteem buildings the more ancient they get, while the more ancient people become, often the less they are esteemed. The value of Age Wisdom is underestimated.


“The longer I live, the more beautiful Life becomes”
~ Frank Lloyd Wright, architect


“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
~ Albert Einstein, physicist


“All is pattern, all life. But we can’t always see the pattern when we are part of it.”
~ Belva Plain, writer