Eynsham cross dates from c.1350. The point where it stands was then the centre of a busy market square. The important Benedictine Abbey of Eynsham lay to the south, beyond the Parish Church; its monks had already owned the market-rights for some 200 years.
The battered and weathered remains of the cross in 1978 (above) may be compared with early C19 drawings and prints in the Bodleian Library ... The original head of the cross, in the form of a crucifix or more probably of a tabernacled shrine, had vanished long before this, to be replaced by a sundial. The railings appear later in the C19, as do the 'iron corsets' which were made by blacksmiths of the Burden family.
Calligraphy & drawings for Eynsham Conservation Area Advisory Committee; © Eynsham Parish Council