These roads on the north east side of town, are close to, and named after, Saint Marks Church.
I believe that there was once an older Saint Marks Church, or possibly Chapel, in Saint Marks Road itself, but I don’t have a reference for this – I think it was known as an ‘iron church’.
Saint Mark and the Winged Lion
The symbol of Saint Mark is the winged lion, which has been adopted as a symbol for Salisbury’s Saint Marks School 1.
The adoption of the winged lion as the symbol for Saint Mark is based on two passages in the Bible, one in Ezekiel and one in Revelations. The passage in Ezekiel which enumerates four ‘creatures’:
{1:5} Also out of the midst thereof [came] the likeness of four living creatures. And this [was] their appearance; they had the likeness of a man. {1:6} And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings. {1:7} And their feet [were] straight feet; and the sole of their feet [was] like the sole of a calf?s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass. {1:8} And [they had] the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings. {1:9} Their wings [were] joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward. {1:10} As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle. 2
The passage in Revelations describes four beasts sitting around a throne in heaven:
And before the throne [there was] a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, [were] four beasts full of eyes before and behind. {4:7} And the first beast [was] like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast [was] like a flying eagle. And the ‘our beasts had each of them six wings about [him;]3
At some stage, the four creatures became identified with the four writers of the Gospels. Saint Mark was identifed in particular with the winged lion, because he is seen as emphasizing the Kingship of Christ and because he opens with St John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, like a lion roaring 4
The relics of Saint Mark were taken to Venice, and he is therefore the patron saint of Venice – which is also symbolized by the winged lion.
Saint Marks Roundabout – the Weeping Cross
The roundabout which sits between Saint Marks Road and Saint Marks Church is known, not unnaturally, as Saint Marks Roundabout.
This location was once known however as either ‘The Weeping Cross’ or ‘The Whipping Cross’.
There are two suggested explanations for this. Either it was on the route of a funeral procession, or it was the location for public floggings.
Footnotes
- Enter St Mark’s C.E. Primary School, Salisbury, England [↩]
- Ezekiel 1:5-10 [↩]
- Revelations 4:6-7 [↩]
- Taylor, Richard (2003). How to Read a Church: A Guide to Images, Symbols and Meanings in Churches and Cathedrals. Rider & Co. ISBN-10 1844130533 [↩]
