The St John's Cross used to stand further up the Canongate to the west. The site is now marked by a maltese cross formed by coloured setts in the road surface near the top of St John's Street (). It was known as St. John's Cross because it stood on property thought to belong to the Knights of St. John in the Middle Ages, and it marked the ancient boundary of that part of the Royalty of Edinburgh which lay outwith the Netherbow Port and the city wall.