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2 unusual facts about Mercat Cross


Mercat Cross, Edinburgh

On 10 December 1688, a mob, having broken into the private chapel of King James VII at Holyrood Abbey and torn down the woodwork, carried it to the Cross where it was burned along with an effigy of the Pope.

After the Restoration Samuel Rutherford's Lex, Rex, regarded by the Monarchy as a dangerously seditious tract, was burned at the Cross by the common hangman in 1661.


Court of the Lord Lyon

Other ceremonies in which the HM Officers of Arms take part include; the announcement of the dissolution of Parliament from the Mercat Cross on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, the inauguration of the governors of Edinburgh Castle, and the ceremonial opening of the annual meeting of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Ell

The shaft of the old 17th century Kincardine Mercat cross stands in the square of Fettercairn, and is notched to show the measurements of an ell.


see also

Castlegate, Aberdeen

Originally erected opposite the Mercat Cross, a statue of George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon, erected in 1844, was relocated to Golden Square in the 1950s.