A little treasure that's in need of some TLC

WHY can’t you write about the state of the Poultry Cross, I was asked at a recent book club get-together.

I was quite surprised by how strongly the whole group felt. This quaint little survivor from the 15^th century shouldn’t be allowed to deteriorate further, they said.

So, having mugged up on its history – last week’s Journal Scrapbook article by Peter Daniels was most helpful - I went and had a closer look at it, and decided they’d got a point.

At the beginning of the 19^th century – minus its original decorative topping of flying buttresses, which were restored later – the Cross was the focal point of a painting by Turner.

Now it’s the focal point for pedestrians strolling down Butcher Row, enjoying the burgeoning café culture, yet it’s covered in pigeon droppings and some kind of moss.

The stonework looks as if it could do with a clean. In places it appears to be crumbling, and the paving around it, as elsewhere in the city centre, is pock-marked with chewing gum. All in all, it is a bit of a mess.

It needn’t be like this, said my book-clubbers. And how lovely it has been lately, they added, to see the farmers’ market gathered around it on a Wednesday, using it as its creators intended.

The Cross belongs to Wiltshire Council, not to the city. Grade 1 listed monuments can cost a fortune to keep up. There are many competing demands on the public purse in these hard times.

And they say distance lends enchantment, so it probably doesn’t look quite so neglected from 33 miles away in Trowbridge.

I remember a leading light in the old district council telling me with unholy glee four years ago that Wiltshire didn’t know the headaches it was letting itself in for when it appropriated Salisbury’s ancient treasures, such as the Cross or the prison in Fisherton Street. A bottomless money-pit, was his opinion.

Wiltshire’s leaders were itching to get their hands on our assets, he added sourly. We couldn’t stop them, so let them find out the hard way.

Well, the days when the people of Salisbury had the power to run their own affairs are now long gone and we are, as they say, where we are.

However, structures such as the Cross are the priceless relics of days even longer gone, a past which gives our city its unique character and makes it such a tourist attraction. Someone must take care of them.

I can’t imagine that the Market Place refurbishment will be costing Wiltshire quite as much as was originally budgeted, given the way the project’s been scaled down since those first grandiose plans. I seem to remember a figure of £3million being bandied about. Isn’t any of that left in the Vision’s coffers?