MALMESBURY’S ATHELSTAN MUSEUM CELEBRATES THE UNVEILING OF A DRAWING OF THE MARKET CROSS BY ARTIST THOMAS ROWLANDSON

MUSEUM VOLUNTEER Anne Goodyer will explore the history of the Market Cross by launching an exhibition to celebrate the recent acquisition of a drawing of the famous landmark by the English artist and caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson.

Anne is a member of the Malmesbury History Society and a volunteer at the museum. She’s an expert on the Market Cross.

“When the drawing ‘Market Day at Malmesbury Market Cross’, was bought by the museum it seemed an ideal opportunity to bring the picture, the history and items from the collection together in the one exhibition,” Anne said.

The exhibition on Tuesday March 7 will explore the cross’s history from its construction in 1490 to the present day. Visitors will be able to look one of the replaced gargoyles in the eye and view historic images of the cross on an interactive display tablet.

“I particularly enjoyed researching the statues at the top of the Market Cross, which are usually quite hard to see. These are now the subject of a short film on the Explore Malmesbury website.” 

The exhibition runs from Tuesday March 7 to Tuesday May 30. (The Explore Malmesbury website can be viewed here: https://exploremalmesbury.com/#/poi)

On Wednesday March 15, the museum’s popular Teatime Talks return to the Rausing Building when Vieve Forward will shareher research into Malmesbury-within-the-walls (Bineport) in the late 13th century, based on three cartularies (charter books) of Malmesbury Abbey. The talk will also concentrate on the market area before the Market Cross was built, including St Paul’s Church and what are now Oxford Street and Gloucester Street.

The talk also touches on the textile industry in Malmesbury, the plight of lepers, the location of the guildhall and the people who might have lived, 750 years ago, on the site where the Rausing Building now stands. 

Vieve was born and raised in Malmesbury and comes from a family of artists with longstanding connections to the museum and the town itself. Her interest in medieval Malmesbury was fuelled during the lockdown when deciding on a dissertation subject.

“I’m an eternal student: I usually take some course or other every year to stop me getting bored in the winter,” Vieve said.

After the pandemic curtailed the A-Level textiles course she was taking at New College Swindon, Vieve started searching for a new course.

“I came across the MA Medieval Studies at Bristol quite by accident. By the time I had to choose a subject for my dissertation, I had already made up my mind to write something about Malmesbury. I’d bought an old book on an online auction site called the Registrum Malmesburiense which is a transcription of one of the cartularies of Malmesbury Abbey, and I was fascinated by it.”

To be able to read the cartulary, as well as others from the abbey, Vieve had to take Latin courses. Her talk is based on the research for her dissertation. 

“A lot has already been written about Malmesbury Abbey but not much about the medieval town. I wanted to find out more about the townspeople of Malmesbury and their relationship with the abbey. 

“I hope those attending my talk will go away having heard something new and interesting about medieval Malmesbury that they hadn’t heard before. I also hope they will be able to tell me things I didn’t already know myself.”

Tickets for Vieve’s talk, which begins at 2.30pm on the March 15 are £6.50 (which includes tea) and are available from the museum shop or online: https://athelstan-museum.arttickets.org.uk/