The triangular market place was the centre of the Medieval town of Wigton, which received its market charter in 1262. On the site where the memorial fountain now is, stood a wooden Market Cross. Many of the buildings around the market place are of Georgian style, and the upper storeys have altered little.
In the market place is an elaborate 19th Century fountain erected in 1872 by George Moore of Whitehall in Mealsgate, in memory of his wife. It is built of granite.
Wigton is "Wicga's tūn", "Wicga" is an Old English pre-7th-century personal name meaning "a beetle" (as in "earwig"), while "tūn" is Old English for a demarcated plot, a "homestead" or "village", so Wigton is "the hamlet belonging to Wicga"
8 сен 2024
