Market cross in the context of "Market towns"

A market town is a settlement (commonly in Europe) that obtained a market right (by custom or royal charter) in the Middle Ages, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or a city. In Britain, small rural towns with a hinterland of villages are still commonly called market towns, and is sometimes reflected in their names (e.g. Downham Market, Market Rasen, or Market Drayton).

Modern markets are often in special halls, but this is a relatively recent development. Historically the markets were open-air, held in what is usually called (regardless of its actual shape) the market square or market place, sometimes centred on a market cross (mercat cross in Scotland). They were and are typically open one or two days a week. In the modern era, the rise of permanent retail establishments reduced the need for periodic markets.

Chapeltown is a village of the civil parish of North Turton, in the Blackburn with Darwen unitary authority, in the north west of England. It is on the B6391 road, on the southern slopes of the West Pennine Moors. The village was once the historic centre of the old Turton Urban District.

The village consists mainly of 18th- and 19th-century terraced stone cottages. The tight clustering of properties along High Street is typical of villages with medieval origins. There is a small public garden containing the old village stocks and market cross. Their timber elements have been renewed several times, but the stone bases are original.

A mercat cross is a structure used in Scottish settlements to denote a market square. It historically indicated that the settlement had been granted the right to hold a regular market or fair by the monarch, a bishop or a baron; the cross therefore served as a symbol of authority, and was an indication of a burgh's relative prosperity. Some burghs had more than one cross, often named for the produce sold at their base.

There are around 126 known examples of mercat crosses in Scotland, with many examples dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Scottish crosses are distinct from market crosses found elsewhere in the United Kingdom in form and iconography.

The Mercat Cross of Edinburgh is a market cross, which stands in Parliament Square next to St Giles' Cathedral, facing the High Street in the Old Town of Edinburgh.