Binham Market Cross

Binham Market Cross is one of the best surviving medieval standing crosses in Norfolk, rising from the village green where a weekly market and an annual fair were held after Henry I granted a charter in the early 12th century. Fairs continued on the green until the early 1950s, and the cross may have been put up by the monks of nearby Binham Priory. Its 15th-century shaft of Barnack limestone sits in a socket stone on a two-metre base of mortared flint rubble, stepped with stone blocks, some of them reused. Look for the weathered moulding partway up the shaft; the stone cross that once topped it is missing. Binham Parochial Church Council looks after it for English Heritage. There is no car park, so park on nearby roads and combine the cross with the priory a third of a mile north, where the parish church has toilets. Dogs on leads are welcome.