The Market Cross with Fountain, Market Place, Wells, Somerset.
Posted by: 
greysman
N 51° 12.558 W 002° 38.740
30U E 524751 N 5673159
Built c1797 to replace Bishop Becknynton's conduit which was demolished in 1796.
Waymark Code: WMPXBR
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/03/2015
Views: 6
This 'Market Cross with Fountain' is a Grade II* listed structure at the south-west end of the Market Place in Wells. It was built in about 1797 by Harcourt Masters of Bath at a cost of £150 to replace Bishop Becknynton's conduit which was demolished in 1796. It is gravity fed from a pump house in the garden of the Bishop's Palace which also supplies water to the moat around the palace, and used to supply two water wheels to the south-west of the palace.
It's built of limestone in Gothic style on a triangular plan. There are two former water outlets and one cascade which is labelled as being the 'ROTARY CLUB WELL'. Water is flowing down this cascade into the circular base part of which is labelled as the 'ROTARY WISHING WELL'.
The base is topped by ogee-arched openings and crowned by a shallow cornice and ogee-domed top. There is much rustication and frosted rustication in evidence on the various finials and corner posts, it looks in places like water erosion and/or build-up of calcium deposits similar to that found in the cave systems here about.
For a full description of the cross see the Listed Buildings web site at Market Cross