Turning to the right, we proceed up Pride Hill, on the right-hand side of which may be seen many curious old timber houses, the ancient mansions of our honest burghers.
Midway of Pride Hill, on the right, is the
DOUBLE BUTCHER ROW,
in which are also many interesting specimens of domestic architecture.
At the top of Pride Hill, on the right, is
THE BUTTER CROSS,
intended for the accommodation of persons bringing Butter, Eggs, and Poultry to the markets. The old cross, a heavy, inconvenient brick building, with a large reservoir on its top for supplying the upper parts of the town with water, stood nearly in the centre of the thoroughfare, whence it was removed in 1818, and another erected at the expense of the Corporation, on the present site; which also proving insufficient and inconvenient, was taken down, and the present structure, on an enlarged scale, built in 1844, by the Corporation, aided by the subscriptions of the town and neighbourhood.
On part of the site of the present Cross stood, previously, an ancient timber structure, probably part of the collegiate buildings of the adjacent church of St. Mary.
Nearly opposite the Butter Cross, on the left-hand side of the street, is an old mansion, now new-fronted, modernised, partially rebuilt, and divided, once, it is believed, the residence of the opulent and ancient, but now extinct, family of the Prides, who gave their name to the street “Pride Hill.” Some idea of its former splendour may have been collected from the ornamented plaster ceilings, which remained in several of the rooms, but which, by recent alterations, are probably now removed.