Weekday Cross, in the Lacemarket area of Nottingham, was the main market area in Nottingham

Nottingham

Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

. As the location of the town hall, guildhall and main market, it was the centre of the town, before the market moved to the Old Market Square

Old Market Square

The Old Market Square is an open, pedestrianised city square in Nottingham, England. It is the largest such surviving square in the United Kingdom, forming the heart of the city, and covering an area of approximately 22,000 m²....

.

It was also known as Weekday Market.

The Cross

A cross (probably not the first) was erected about 1529-1530. The Chamberlain's Accounts contain items of expenditure relating to the purchase of stone and sand and payment to John Mychyll for working the stone. There is also reference to the purchase of drink that was drunk at the cross on Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi (feast)

Corpus Christi is a Latin Rite solemnity, now designated the solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ . It is also celebrated in some Anglican, Lutheran and Old Catholic Churches. Like Trinity Sunday and the Solemnity of Christ the King, it does not commemorate a particular event in...

. This may relate to a celebration to mark its completion.

About 1711 the "Cross" was familiarly known as "The Pillar." In 1736, the Crosses were cleaned at a cost of 1s 4d This cross was pulled down in 1804.

A new Cross was erected in the late 1990s.

The market

The Monday market was for fresh vegetables and butter. Later it moved from Weekday Cross to the 'Monday Cross', now near St. Peters Square.

A market was held on Wednesdays and Fridays. It was possible to buy butter, eggs, pigeon, wild fowl, fruit and fish.

The Guildhall

When the merchants established a Guild to regulate trade they erected a Guild Hall on Weekday Cross. This building became the Court House and Town Hall when the borough had its own mayor and aldermen.

In 1722 Nottingham Corporation built a new town hall in the Market Place. This building became known as the Exchange. The old town hall on Weekday Cross continued to be used alongside the Exchange and was refaced in brick in 1744.

The Guildhall was abandoned in 1877 with the opening of the new Nottingham Guildhall

Nottingham Guildhall

-History:Nottingham Guildhall was built in 1887 to 1888 to replace the previous guildhall on Weekday Cross. Following a competition with Alfred Waterhouse as the judge, the French Renaissance Revival design by the architects Thomas Verity and George Henry Hunt was chosen...

, and the old town hall was demolished in 1895 when the Great Central Railway

Great Central Railway

The Great Central Railway was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension . On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern...

 built a tunnel with the portal just underneath Weekday Cross.

This site is now occupied by the Nottingham Contemporary

Nottingham Contemporary

Nottingham Contemporary is a contemporary art centre in the Lace Market area of Nottingham...

 gallery.

Nottingham Bluecoat School

In 1723, land was given by William Thorpe on High Pavement

High Pavement

High Pavement is a street in Nottingham, England. It is one of the earliest streets in the city, and most of its buildings are listed.-History:...

 in Weekday Cross was used and the Nottingham Bluecoat School migrated there, remaining for over a century.