Ox Row, Salisbury

Ox Row, in the centre of Salisbury, would once have been part of the market place.

The Victoria County History says that

Oatmeal Row, Ox Row, Butcher Row, and Fish Row show every sign of being encroachments of permanent shops built to replace the temporary stalls of earlier times.¹

.

Perhaps the word ‘row’ in this context implies that the buildings were originally a row of market stalls, I don’t know.

There is a slight puzzle about the designation ‘Ox Row’ in that for much of Salisbury’s history cattle were traded not it the Market Square but in Milford. The Wiltshire Community History site says that

Barnwell (or Barnard?s) Cross, at the junction of Culver Street and Barnard Street. It was where livestock was traded in the middle ages and early modern era, at a time when there were hygiene concerns regarding trade in livestock in the main market place. Only when sanitary conditions improved in the nineteenth century was livestock traded in the Market Place, before the inauguration of dedicated facilities to the west of Castle Street and, latterly, off Ashley Road and, now, the Netherhampton Road.²

Perhaps the reference to ‘Ox’ was actually Ox meat?

‘Ox’ itself means

Any bovine animal used as a beast of burden or for food, especially an adult castrated male of the domestic species.³

Visiting Salisbury?

For accommodation, see the Hotels in Salisbury page.

Footnotes

1. Salisbury – The market place | British History Online [↩]
2. Wiltshire County Council – Wiltshire Community History Get Wiltshire History Question Information [↩]
3. ox – Wiktionary [↩]