The square pillar
surmounted by sundial and ball which for years supplanted the original
finial has in turn been replaced by a new canopy and cross. The
original erection has been variously ascribed to two individuals,
Lawrence de St. Martin and John de Montacute Earl of Salisbury, in
each case for the same reason, namely, as a penance for "having
carried home the Sacrament bread and eaten it for his supper," for
which he was "condemned to set up a cross in Salisbury market place
and come every Saturday of his life in shirt and breeches and there
confess his fault publickly." Not far away is the church of St. Thomas
of Canterbury, the only really interesting ecclesiastical building in
the city apart from the Cathedral. It is a very beautiful specimen of
Perpendicular and replaced a thirteenth-century church founded by
Bishop Bingham. The painting of the Last Judgment over the chancel
arch was covered with whitewash at the Reformation and the Tudor arms
were placed in front of it. About forty years ago this disfigurement
to the church was removed and the picture brought once more into the
light of day.
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