Like so much of Scarborough’s heritage, The Buttercross receives little or no acknowledgement.

What is one of Scarborough’s only Grade 1 Listed monuments is tucked away with little or no acknowledgement and certainly nothing to stir the interest of the unknowing passer-by.

Whilst Queen Victoria’s statue stands proudly but somewhat unkempt in the Town Hall gardens and King Richard’s House in Sandside has some passive reference to Scarborough’s history, the tall stone pillar that is all that remains of the Buttercross gives little indication that it was once a proud market cross, now over 600 years old.

The earliest known reference to the Buttercross in Scarborough is in 1395.  Its exact date of origin is not known but it is believed to have formed part of the entrance to the old Borough in the 1200s.  Doubts have been cast on its original position but it is clearly shown in the New and Exact Plan of Scarborough in 1725 in more or less its present position.

It stood proudly on the site of the thriving Scarborough Saturday Market, overlooked by St Mary's Church, in the middle of what was once Conduit Street (now Princess Square) at the junction of upper West Sandgate, well in front of Ye Old Brass Tap pub.  In those days clearly it was a proper cross, but there is no record of the disappearance or dismantling of the stone cross-member.

What is certain is that in the days of the thriving market it would have been the focal point for many a meeting, many a sermon, and, no doubt, many a dodgy deal. 

In the early 19th century it was moved back slightly from its original position to make room for carriages to pass.

It is Scarborough’s only surviving medieval street cross. The Corn, Rede and Haldane crosses which were also part of Scarborough’s heritage have long since disappeared.