The Tale of the Market Cross Bullet Holes
A Teesdale Tale carried through metal, memory and a mystery high above the town.
If you stand in the middle of Barnard Castle and look up at the old Market Cross, you may notice something unusual right at the very top.
High above the traffic, fixed to the weather vane above the cupola, are two small round holes. They are easy to miss from street level, but once you know they are there, they become one of the most intriguing details on the whole building.
Local tradition says they were made by musket balls.
The Market Cross, also known as the Butter Market, was built in 1747 and paid for by Thomas Breaks, a Barnard Castle born wool merchant. It was created as a practical market building, but over time it became far more than that. It served as a market shelter, meeting place, town hall, courtroom, lock up, fire engine house and one of the town’s most recognisable landmarks.
This tale belongs to the same building, but it tells a very different kind of story.
A mystery above the Market Place
The bullet holes are real. What is harder to prove is exactly who made them, when they were made and why.
That is part of what makes the story so fascinating.
Unlike the construction of the Market Cross, which is recorded in local history, the story of the bullet holes lives more in memory and tradition. No known surviving official record has yet been found that confirms the event in full. Instead, the tale has been passed down through generations, carried by local voices and repeated because people enjoyed the mystery.
For a building so closely tied to the everyday life of Barnard Castle, that feels fitting.
Some of its history was written in records. Some of it was remembered in stories.
The old tale of Taylor and Cruddas
The best known version of the story places the event in the early nineteenth century, when Barnard Castle was still a busy market town and local Volunteer soldiers were active during the years of fear around war with France.
According to local tradition, two men were arguing in the Turk’s Head pub about who was the better shot.
One was said to be Taylor, a Volunteer soldier.
The other was Cruddas, a gamekeeper connected with the Earl of Strathmore.
Both men would have known how to handle a firearm. Taylor through military drilling, Cruddas through his work in the fields and on the estate. As the story goes, neither man wanted to back down.
So the argument moved outside.
Standing near the Turk’s Head, they are said to have aimed their muskets across the Market Place towards the weather vane on top of the Market Cross. It was a bold and difficult target, high above the town and far enough away to test even a confident marksman.
The tale says both men fired.
And both shots hit the vane.
Those two small holes, still visible today, are said to be the lasting marks of that contest.
A second possible explanation
There is another version of the story too.
Some have suggested that the shots may have come from a gunsmith’s shop instead, simply because the accuracy seems almost too impressive for a challenge fired from a pub doorway.
This version is more practical. It imagines the marks being made by someone used to testing or handling firearms, rather than two men settling a heated argument after a drink.
But the Turk’s Head version is the one Barnard Castle seems to have remembered most fondly.
It has the ingredients of a proper local tale: a well known building, two confident men, a public challenge, a difficult shot and a mystery still visible above the town.
Why the story still matters
The Market Cross already has a strong place in Barnard Castle history. Thomas Breaks gave the town a building that became part of everyday life for generations. Markets gathered around it. Notices were made from it. People met beneath it. At different times, it was used for trade, law, local business, fire safety and even confinement.
The bullet holes add something different.
They remind us that historic buildings are not only important because of dates, names and official records. They matter because people attach stories to them. Small details become talking points. Talking points become traditions. Traditions become part of how a town remembers itself.
The holes in the weather vane may be tiny, but they make people look up.
And when people look up, they notice the Market Cross not just as a building, but as a survivor.
Look up next time you pass
Today, traffic moves around the Market Cross and people pass by on their way through town. It is easy to walk past without noticing the details above.
But next time you are in Barnard Castle, pause for a moment and look towards the weather vane.
Some parts of the Market Cross story are clear and recorded.
Some parts are still uncertain.
And some, like the bullet holes, sit somewhere between history, folklore and local memory.
That is what makes them worth keeping.
The weather vane on Barnard Castle Market Cross, still carrying the two small holes linked to one of the town’s best known local tales.
This page is part of our Discover Teesdale collection, exploring the walks, waterfalls, buildings, stories and quiet details that make Teesdale such a special place.
For the full history of the building itself, visit our Barnard Castle Market Cross page, including its use as the Butter Market, town hall, lock up and fire engine house.