Hand Cross - Croydon
One of four boundary markers in Croydon
The plaque was located on the Reeves furniture store, which was destroyed in the 2011 riots. It presumably is now lost.
Inscription reads:
Hand Cross
Near here once stood one of the four manorial boundary crosses of old Croydon.
The other crosses were the Hurn Cross, the Stay Cross and one of unknown name. They existed up to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I but disappeared in the late 1600's. They marked the area of the old town within which the inhabitants enjoyed manorial privileges.
Old documents locate the crosses at 'Burchall's House in an elm tree, The Pound; Little Alms House Corner, and Dodd's Corner in an elm tree against the Catherine Wheel Corner.'
Plaques marking the site of the other three crosses have been placed at the junction of High Street and Coombe Road, at Pump Pail under the fly-over and at the junction of George Street and Wellesley Road.
This plaque was erected in 1977 by the Rotary Clubs of Croydon South and Croydon East to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
