At the Market Cross: Reflections on a Home Place (By Michael J. Meehan

THE CORRAN HERALD • 2020/2021 At the Market Cross: Reflections on a Home Place

By Michael J Meehan

The Market Cross, Sligo, that’s the home place. Though known for centuries as the O’Crean Cross, the area is at the bottom of Market St., where it connects into Grattan St. and Castle St. In the centre of this place today is the Lady Erin monument, behind which there is a plaque in the paving that proclaims the spot as the centre of Sligo, a radius of one and quarter miles from the Borough boundaries.

Sligo was a medieval market town, founded by the Normans in 1243, when Maurice Fitzgerald built a Castle near the river in 1245. Later, in 1252, he established the Dominican Abbey nearby. Such towns had a hinterland of small rural villages and were established near to a fortified place such as a castle, a monastery and other areas of strategic importance such as the fording of a river. (A painting of a siege of the Castle of Sligo and some historic facts are located on the side of Foley’s pub at the corner of Castle St./ Teeling St.).

The town of Sligo prospered; by the 16th century, there were busy markets and an increasing population. Andrew O’Crean, a member of a wealthy local merchant family, was Prior at the Abbey. Around 1560 he was appointed the Bishop of Elphin. Shortly after, at his own expense, Bishop O’Crean erected a Market Cross at the bottom of Market St. for the benefit of the street traders. Bishop O’Crean retired in 1584, not wishing to take the Oath of Supremacy and went to live at the Dominican Abbey until his death in 1594.

The O’Rorke History of Sligo, Vol.1 (1889 ) says “that portion of the town is called, to this day, Market Cross, though people using the place knew nothing of its origin”. Dictionary meaning for a Market Cross is “an arcaded building in a marketplace”. These structures were often elaborate, with plenty of space to give shelter to traders and buyers. The cross, a symbol of religion, was to remind the people trading, the virtues of honesty and integrity in their dealings.

The right to hold markets was controlled by the ruling authority. In 1604 King James 1 of England granted a licence to hold markets at the O’Crean Cross and another market licence grant was made by Charles 1 in 1627. The beneficiaries were loyal subjects of the crown who had already received large grants of land.

We have no illustrations of the O’Crean Cross from that time, unlike the Kilkenny Market Cross for which there is a detailed drawing in the National Library. The Wood-Martin History of Sligo (1889) has a sketch of the Cross and states that the townstocks (for public punishment) were in the market area and a drinking fountain or well was also nearby. In 1883, a well was discovered when it erupted in the roadway at this place.

A visitor to Sligo in 1739, Rev. W. Henry, left an account of the visit - “in the town is an old market cross, supported by four small pillars of black marble polished and fluted. It is a square to which there is an ascent of four steps on each side, on the top an inscription “ (ref. J McTernan/Nat. Arch.). A recent study, “The Streets of Sligo”, Fiona Gallagher (2008), has an excellent depiction by J. Young of what the O’Crean Cross may have looked like.

Many Medieval Crosses survive in market squares across Europe, England and Scotland (known as a Mercat Cross) and in a few market towns in Ireland. Many photos and locations of these crosses can be viewed online. At Athenry in Co. Galway, a medieval town with a ruined Dominican Abbey, there is a Gothic Cross (1475) in the centre of a small market square, the only one in Ireland still standing where it was originally erected.

Market Crosses were the popular places in the Middle Ages for the public performance of Mystery Plays and Morality Plays of that era, though in Ireland there was little or no tradition for the plays. The history of the Kilkenny Cross has mention of “young men performed a Mystery play on the feast of Corpus Christie for public entertainment”. One can speculate that similar public performances must have taken place at the O’Crean Cross - the Mummers Plays, Wren boys, ballad singers, pamphleteers, itinerant preachers and at the Christmas Markets, the Christmas Rhymers.

The atmosphere of a market day in Sligo is recorded in O’Rorke’s History of Sligo -

“streams of people rolled down Gallows Hill north and Gallows Hill south, the two principle approaches into the town. There being no footpaths or sidewalks, people moved through the high road in the same line with the horses and asses and like them often carried loads of commodities to be disposed of in the market” then adds “ most of the market people returned home in due time, but some few turned into the whiskey houses, of which the town was full, every second house being a shebeen”.

The Market Cross disappeared in the late 18th century, after over 200 years at the centre of Sligo. Nothing remains of it, even in folk memory. O’Rorke claims it was removed to the rear of Pat O’Brien’s house in High Street. Could the fate of the Kilkenny Cross (1335-1722) have some similarity

A reconstruction of the Market Cross by J Young. Illustration taken from “The Streets of Sligo” by Fiona Gallagher.

to the demise of the one in Sligo. A historic record in Kilkenny Heritage on the removal of the Cross in that city says “After the Cromwellian and Williamite Wars, the new Corporation lost respect for the Cross and its purpose. It became a place for idlers, beggars, gamblers and mischief. In 1772 the Chief Magistrate, a Puritan, pulled down the Cross, the stones were later used for common building purposes”. O’Brien was hardly a Puritan (Canon O’Rorke would have said). Quite likely he wanted to save something that had now become part of a proscribed Religion.

The town had its share of grief from the 17th century wars and the political and religious turmoil that followed. But the following centuries saw a rapid development in trade and permanent shops with simple residences opened along the Sligo streets. By the mid 1800’s Sligo had the air of a business town. Street lighting came in the 1850s, a gas lamp post was erected at the Market Cross.

The late 19th century saw political change in the town with a nationalist majority on the Corporation. Some town streets were renamed, Radcliffe St. bordering the Market Cross was changed to Grattan St. As the long dark century was coming to a close, the centenary of the 1798 rebellion loomed, a ’98 club was formed to plan the commemorations for the historic rising. A Memorial Monument was commissioned for erection at the Market Cross, where the O’Crean Cross once stood. The foundation stone was laid on Oct 2nd 1898 by P.A. McHugh, Mayor of Sligo (his memorial stands at the Town Hall today), and thousands of people came to Sligo from all over the North West for the ceremony. The streets of the town were lavishly decorated with national emblems, flags, banners and arches. A parade around the town and monster meeting at the Market Yard, was addressed by Willian O Brien.

Sligo was again thronged with people for the unveiling of the Lady Erin Monument on 9th September 1899, by Mayor, Ald. E. Tighe, who presented four ornamental pedestals with gas lamps for the pillars around the monument. When the lamps were lit, the statue in the impressive settings, must have looked dramatic.

The monument is 16-foot-high, made of Sicilian marble, the sculptor was Herbert Barnes. It depicts Ireland with a hand raised in rebellion, wearing the Phrygian cap, symbol of Liberty. The broken chains that lie beneath her feet, symbolises the destruction of the chains of bondage with England. Many such memorials were erected in towns around Ireland during the 19th century, known as “Maid of Erin”, a traditional figure symbolising Ireland, to honour events in the struggle for freedom. However, Sligo got the “Lady”, to outrank the “Maids” in other towns.

Within a few months, the new century, and within a few decades, the new Ireland. As the State evolved, interest in the monument and what it stood for began to fade. In time, the “Lady” was stripped of her regalia, the lamps, then the pillars and railings were removed, and a public telephone box was installed at the back. By the 1960’s , the area had become a problem for the town planners. Traffic congestion and car parking were now the urban priorities.

Respect for the monument had almost disappeared by the end of

1798 Memorial at Market Cross.

the 20th century. It began to attract the attention of late-night revellers, exhibitionists attempting to scale the statue, coronations with Corpo. refuse cans and the nineties saw all the Ole, Ole nights of football celebration. The great symbol of ’98, the raised hand of rebellion was severed. Urban grime, traffic fumes and the ever-present pigeons, had blackened the statue. A very shabby looking Lady Erin saw in the new millennium.

A major refurbishment was undertaken by the Corporation; a new hand, repair work and cleaning took place. But the monument was still not at its best when Clifford Barnes visited the town in 2011. He contacted a local newspaper, the “Sligo Weekender”, to complain about the condition of the monument and how it had been vandalised. However, Clifford who was grandnephew of Herbert Barnes, the man who built the monument in 1898, was pleased that efforts were being made to restore it. He told the newspaper that his great grandfather had come to Dublin in 1860 from the Leeds area with another stone mason, the father of Padraic and Willie Pearse.

Modern communication technology saw the telephone box taken away. A paved area and a plaque were laid behind the monument (that also has a detail of the O’Crean Cross), another new hand, further cleaning and traffic changes were implemented. The imposing restoration was completed for the 1916 centenary commemorations. Seeing the statue in sunlight, the features express the determination, optimism and vitality of youth. How well the sculptor caught the spirit of those who erected it.

Family life has gone from the Market Cross and the area around that part of town is now a commercial precinct. The O’Crean / Market Cross has defined the main trading area in Sligo since the 1500’s and its origins and function are an important part of Sligo history. The only link to a medieval past is etched on the pavement behind the monument.

An afterthought on this reflection …. I was like the townspeople of the 1800’s who had lived around here and of whom Canon O’Rorke said, they know nothing of its origin. Then, at a performance of the Shakespeare play, Henry IV, Part 1, I hear these lines…….

‘These things indeed, you have articulated, Proclaimed at market crosses, read in churches’

The dictionary meaning and a beginning!

Members of Ballymote Brass and Reed Band

Submitted by Francis Flannery