Hurst Cross Junction of Queen's Road/King's Road/Hurst Cross

Latin cross on square pedestal with rusticated base. Pedestal has ionic columns at each corner. The names of the memorial committee inscribed on the north [?] side have been worn away by weathering.

Hurst Cross was erected in 1868 on what was assumed to be the site of a former cross. In fact little was, and is, known of the original cross. In the 1860s all that the older local inhabitants could remember of the junction where the cross was sited was 'a heap of stones placed in a circular form but which have been gradually removed.' A committee of local businessmen and members of the Hurst Local Board, under the chairmanship of Handel Wallwork, arranged for the collection of subscriptions, the release of the necessary land from the Earl of Stamford, and the design of the cross. The foundation stone was laid by Oldham Whittaker on Easter Monday, 1868 in a colourful ceremony which concluded with a dinner for 170 gentlemen at the Hurst Mechanics' Institute. Whittaker, with his brother John, was the largest employer in Hurst. Besides commemorating the earlier cross, it was suggested that the new cross might be associated with the recent extension of parliamentary democracy following the passing of the Reform Act. The cross, designed by the Ashton architect, John Eaton, was welcomed as an improvement in a community increasingly conscious of its identity and status. The cross itself was erected within four months though it was not to be until October 1869 that the Hurst Memorial Cross Committee finally handed it over it to the Hurst Local Board. The finished memorial was surrounded by railings and included a lamp.

Reference           Public Monument and Sculpture Association National Recording Project