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Summary

Description

Robert Gray, stonemason, 1807. Elaborately carved hexagonal well.

Cream sandstone ashlar. Stepped base, tall plinth, 2 off-set decorative stages with pinnacled angles to lower stage and figures to upper stages, cusped flying buttresses, mask-gargoyles crowned by circular cupola supporting unicorn holding scroll bearing lion rampant.

PEDESTAL TO S: adjacent pedestal with mask gargoyle and town's arms; dated 1807 in tympanum.

COMMEMORATIVE STONE: Vincent Butler RSA, 1989. Adjacent to left, inscribed stone slab commemorating town's 600 years as Royal Burgh 1389-1989.

Statement of Special Interest

The original Cross Well was a dipping-well erected circa 1535. By 1628, it was rebuilt by John Richie of Edinburgh. In 1650 the well was damaged by Cromwell's soldiers, and it was repaired in 1659. The well was again rebuilt in the early 19th century. On the 4th June 1807, King George III's sixty-ninth birthday, the foundation stone was laid by Provost Learmonth. The well which cost $500 is said to be an exact copy of the previous one and was carved by Robert Grey a one-handed Edinburgh stonemason, who apparently worked with a mallet strapped to the stump of his handless arm.

References

Bibliography

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