From conversation to sleep or to amusement, from eager attention to scorn and to laughter, and from laughter to tears, we have seen the sermon audiences in church pass almost the full cycle of human emotions while the priest was busy with his theme. For his part, however, he might naturally expect to have still more to complain of in the way of disturbance and distraction when the place of his harangue is transferred to the open air, whether of churchyard or market square. How difficult it will be to reconstruct from English sources the chief features of this other preaching scene may be judged perhaps from a recent work, which, though it provides us, amongst other things, with an excellent sketch of the architectural evolution of the Preaching Cross, yet leaves unrealized an ambition expressed in the preface to provide adequate documentary references. With the particular sources at our command, however, it is yet possible to go further than this.

The identification of a preaching station has for long been recognized among the many purposes served by the erection of stone crosses in the open from very early times.