Manual Ref* NFsnHA001 Show 3 images 94
Title*

Hardley Cross
County Norfolk   District Council South Norfolk 
Civil Parish or equivalent Hardley  Town/Village* Hardley Street 
Road River Yare 
Precise Location On bank where River Chet joins the Yare 
OS Grid Ref TG400011  Postcode NR14 
Previous location(s)  
Setting On river bank  Access Public 
Artist/Maker Role Qualifier
Not known  Architect(s)   

Commissioned by

 Norwich City Council probably with Cuthbert Brereton 

Design & Constrn period

 Probably 1576 

Date of installing

  

Exact date of unveiling

  

Category
Abstract Animal Architectural
Commercial Commemorative Composite
Free Functional Funerary
Heraldic Military Natural
Non-Commemorative Performance Portable
Religious Roadside, Wayside Sculptural
Temporary, Mobile Other  

Object Type
Building Clock Tower Architectural
Coat of Arms Cross Fountain
Landscape Marker Medallion
Mural Panel Readymade
Relief Shaft Sculpture
Statue Street Furniture War Memorial
Other Object Sub Type: Boundary marker

Subject Type
Allegorical Mythological Pictorial
Figurative Non-figurative Portrait
Still-life Symbolic Other

Subject Sub Type
Bust Equestrian Full-length
Group Head Reclining
Seated Standing Torso
Part Material Dimension
Square column on two steps, with cross above  Limestone  Approx 3 metres high 

Work is
Extant Not Sited Lost

Owner/Custodian

 Norwich City Council 

Listing status
Grade I Grade II* Grade II Don't Know Not Listed

Surface Condition
Corrosion, Deterioration Accretions
Bird Guano Abrasions, cracks, splits
Biological growth Spalling, crumbling
Metallic staining Previous treatments
Other  
Detail: Covered in lichen

Structural Condition
Armature exposed Broken or missing parts
Replaced parts Loose elements
Cracks, splits, breaks, holes Spalling, crumbling
Water collection Other
Detail: The cross facing east/west is a modern replacement, not shown in George Plunkett's photograph of 1937 and the whole has been restored frequently

Vandalism
Graffiti Structural damage Surface Damage
Detail:

Overall condition
Good Fair Poor

Risk
No Known Risk At Risk Immediate
Signatures/Marks  
Inscriptions On shaft facing Yare: Repaired A.D. 1834 P. Barnes Architect Metal plaque set beneath: City of Norwich. This cross was repaired and fenced in 1899. George Henry Morse Mayor; Geo C.B. Kennett, Town Clerk; Sir Harry Bullard Kt. M.P Chairman of Tonnage and navigation Committee. Arthur E. Collins M.I.C.E City Engineer On metal plaque at base: Hardley Cross. This cross marks the ancient boundary of the jurisdiction of the navigation/ of the City of Norwich and the Borough of Great Yarmouth/ on the River Yare. Probably marking the original limit of Breydon Water, it was confirmed for Norwich by a Charter of Philip and Mary of July 1556. Restored 1971 On shaft to west: Repaired A/D/ 1820. Reparata Tempore Thomae Hickering Armigeri Maioris Civitatis Nor 1676 (repaired in the time of Thomas Hickering Senior Squire of Norwich 1676)  

Description (physical)

 Square column rising on two steps. Capital decorated with with four shields including one of the City of Norwich and Borough of Yarmouth, another a cross and the final two displaying a pair of horizontal bars, the arms of the Brereton family (as noted by Tony Sims) as displayed on their family memorial at Briningham. The family had Norwich connections as Cuthbert Brereton with his wife Joan is noted in a document at the NRO dated 1584 when he feoffed part of a tenement in St Peter Mancroft to Thomas Snowdon and in 1576 he had been one of two sheriffs, together with Francis Morley, when Thomas Layer was mayor. 

Description (iconographical)

 In 1543 Norwich established a water bailiff to collect dues on the traffic to and from Great Yarmouth, who was paid by goods which had been traded without paying the necessary dues and had been seized. The City's control was confirmed, as the inscription shows, in 1556. Hardley Cross is typical of medieval boundary markers, except for its position at the junction of the rivers Chet and Yare to mark the limit of the City of Norwich's control over the navigation on the Yare, crucial for trade with Great Yarmouth and hence the wider world. It has had a chequered career and the prominence of the Brereton coats of arms suggests that the City only got round to setting up a permanent marker in 1576 when as sheriff Cuthbert Brereton must have been responsible for the bulk of the funding. 

Photographs

 Date taken:  4/6/2006
Date logged: 

Photographed by:
Sarah Cocke

On Site Inspection

 Date:  4/6/2006

Inspected by:
Richard Cocke

Sources and References

 BOE 2 381; www.the-plunketts.freeserve.co.uk 03/02/06; Chambers, J., A general history of the county of Norfolk, Norwich, 1829, p. lxxii footnote; access to archives, accessed 04/12/2009; The history of the city and county of Norwich from the accounts to the present time, Printed by John Crouse and sold by M. Booth, 1768 p. 360, accessed through Google Nooks, 05/12/2009; Information on the Brereton Family from Michael Sandford, michael@sandfordfamily.org.uk 

Database

 Date entered:  2/6/2006

Data inputter:
Richard Cocke