IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Bridge Street, PRESTON, PR3 1YG

Taken on the High Street, Garstang, Lancashire, I am looking southwards past the market cross to the Royal Oak Hotel and down Bridge Street beyond to the left. You see the town centre decked out in bunting and Union flags to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

The ancient market cross, standing in front of the Royal Oak Hotel in Market Place. The Market Cross, which is a scheduled ancient monument (http://www.ancientmonuments.info/en23784-garstang-market-cross ), probably lost its actual cross from the top of the stone pillar around the time of Cromwell. The steps are seventeenth century (or earlier) and the column and pedestal date from 1754. The original mediæval shaft was removed in 1754 because of local strong feelings against Roman Catholics. It was replaced by the present obelisk which was restored in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The area surrounding the cross was the original Market Place. Garstang received a Royal Charter to hold an annual fair in 1288 and, in 1314, Edward II granted the right to hold a market on Thursdays. The weekly street market still continues every Thursday. The Royal Oak Hotel was Garstang’s Principal Posting House on the London to Edinburgh route. It is a Grade II listed building, probably dating from the early nineteenth century. (http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-185497-royal-oak-hotel-garstang - British Listed Buildings)

The ancient market cross, standing in front of the Royal Oak Hotel in Market Place. The Market Cross, which is a scheduled ancient monument (http://www.ancientmonuments.info/en23784-garstang-market-cross ), probably lost its actual cross from the top of the stone pillar around the time of Cromwell. The steps are seventeenth century (or earlier) and the column and pedestal date from 1754. The original medieval shaft was removed in 1754 because of local strong feelings against Roman Catholics. It was replaced by the present obelisk which was restored in 1897 to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. The area surrounding the cross was the original Market Place. Garstang received a Royal Charter to hold an annual fair in 1288 and, in 1314, Edward II granted the right to hold a market on Thursdays. The weekly street market still continues every Thursday. The Royal Oak Hotel was Garstang's Principal Posting House on the London to Edinburgh route. It is a Grade II listed building, probably dating from the early nineteenth century https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1361932?section=official-list-entry.

The Royal Oak public house on the High Street. The Market Cross is in the foreground

The town was permitted to hold a market in 1310, and this right has lapsed and been renewed from time to time. There is now a market of about 70 salls every Thursday, and the town has the tilte of the World's first FairTrade town.

This row of three shops is in a free Tudor style that at least shows some originality.