Chapter II: Part 2

Six and a half miles south of Durham, in the modern village of Ferry Hill, is the fragment of an old stone cross, named Cleve's Cross. This monument, according to tradition, commemorates the valour of one, Roger de Ferry, who slew a monster wild boar, which had been the terror of the whole countryside.

At Wigan, Lancashire, are the rude remains of an ancient stone cross, concerning which the following tradition is told. While Sir William Bradshaigh was engaged in the holy wars or in travelling overseas, his wife Mabel, weary of waiting for his return, bigamously married a Welsh knight. After an absence of ten years, however, Sir William came home again and, notwithstanding his pilgrim's habit, was recognised by his wife. Whereupon the Welsh knight fled from the outraged husband, who pursued, and, overtaking, slew him. Dame Mabel's confessor enjoined her to walk barefoot once every week for the rest of her life to do penance at a certain cross on the outskirts of Wigan. The cross is the same which is situated at the end of Standishgate, and has borne the significant name of "Mab's Cross" from the fourteenth century to this day. The romantic story was used by Sir Walter Scott as the basis of his novel, _The Betrothed_. This tradition of employing crosses as places of public penance survives in the shape of the old-fashioned stocks situated at the foot of village and market crosses (Fig. 6).

Of Banbury Cross, Oxfordshire, immortalised in nursery rhyme, it is much to be regretted that no vestige remains. John Leland, between about 1535 and 1545, writes in his _Itinerary_: "At the west part of the street," which runs east and west through the town, "is a large area, having a goodly cross with many degrees (steps) about it. In this area is kept every Thursday a very celebrate market."

As the churchyard or village cross was the centre of the life of the smaller community, so also the market cross became the centre of the municipal life of towns and boroughs. Thus, it was the custom, at the close of the civic year, for the mayor and electors, being summoned by the blowing of a horn, to assemble at the churchyard cross at Folkestone, and at the market cross (now but a gaunt obelisk) at Ripon, for the election of a mayor for the ensuing year of office.

At Chester, "the High Cross (Fig. 24) was the scene of all great civic functions. Here, again and again, royalty was received.... Here proclamations were read out with due formality, and here the (famous) mystery plays were represented." Among the official uses to which market crosses were put was that of a recognised place for public proclamations. Thus, it was at the market cross at Darlington, in 1312, that the Bishop's order, prohibiting a tournament, which had been announced to take place, was read. This particular market cross, by the way, no longer exists, but its site is perpetuated by a plain cylindrical column, surmounted by a ball, erected at the cost of Dame Dorothy Browne in 1727.

At Wells it was a time-honoured custom that public proclamations should always be read and published first at the High Cross. It was from the cross at Lyme, Dorset, where he landed on 11th June 1685, that the declaration of the rebel Duke of Monmouth was read; and it was from the crosses of Taunton on 20th June, and Bridgwater, a day or two later, that, emboldened by his reception in the west, he caused himself to be proclaimed King of England--only to meet with crushing humiliation and defeat from the forces of King James II. at Sedgemoor on 6th July 1685.

The strangest and ghastliest of all uses to which a village cross could be put is that of a gallows; but, unless tradition lies, the notorious Judge Jeffreys actually hanged a man on the cross at Wedmore, Somerset. This identical cross, with its tall shaft and sculptured head, still stands, though removed from its original site beside the shambles to the garden of the house in which Judge Jeffreys himself is believed to have lodged, presumably during the Bloody Assize in the autumn of 1685, following the collapse of Monmouth's rebellion.

At Louth, Lincolnshire, a market cross was erected by the parish in 1521-22. That this structure was in the form of a roofed shelter, with a lofty shaft rising from the midst, is evident from the circumstances of the rebellion in 1536. The malcontents, it is recorded, had seized a number of the official books, and were about to burn them unread, when they came face to face with a certain priest, named William Morland. Upon his remonstrating with them, they dragged him under the High Cross and compelled him to examine the said books before consigning them to the flames. Meanwhile, others of the crowd brought the registrar, "and caused him, by a ladder, to climb up to the altitude, or highest part, of the cross," who, in abject terror for his life, sought to appease the mob by consenting to the destruction of the books in his charge. A portion of this cross, being, perhaps, so much of it as was adjudged to be superstitious, was taken down in 1573. Three stones were purchased for mending the cross in 1632, and further repairs, including tiling, were carried out in 1639. The "cross pales," presumably the railings or posts about the cross, were removed in October 1753; but a proposal for enclosing the structure, "to keep it clean and decent," was carried by the parish in November 1769. Another cross was situated at a spot in Louth, known as Julian Bower. This cross, according to the churchwardens' accounts, was renewed in stone in 1544.

At Peterborough the old market cross, long since swept away, was a covered cross, as is evident from the town accounts, which note, in 1649, a sum of money "received under the market cross by several fellows for the use of the poor"; and, again, a further sum in 1652 "from the standers under the cross."

In parts of Wales it was formerly the custom for labourers offering themselves for hire to congregate at the village cross, bargains made at such a spot being regarded as of more binding nature than those made elsewhere. It was indeed considered peculiarly dishonourable and impious to break a contract made at the cross. The village cross of Rhuddlan, in Flintshire, was so much frequented for hiring purposes, that the amount of the wages prevailing there became the standard for the time being for the whole district. There was also this distinction, viz., that labourers, hired at Rhuddlan, were hired for a week, during which term the rate agreed upon could not be altered; as distinguished from the crosses of other places where the custom was for the labourer to be hired by the day only--the scale of his pay being liable to fluctuate accordingly from day to day.

In addition to the several kinds of crosses above enumerated, some writers name "weeping crosses." What is meant by a weeping cross is not clear, nor has anyone pretended to assign to such edifices, if indeed they ever existed except in popular fallacy, any characteristic features by which they may be recognised as distinct from other crosses. For all practical purposes, then, the weeping cross is not. Or again, it might well have been in any given case that a cross was provided in order that a preacher might deliver his sermon from its steps. But unless such a cross was constructed with the architectural features of a pulpit cross (like those, for instance, at Iron Acton (Fig. 144) or the Blackfriars' Cross at Hereford (Fig. 143)) then surely it must only be reckoned with the normal type of churchyard or village cross, from which it differs in no particular whatever. In a word, the one standard by which the various crosses in the following pages are grouped and classified is not their respective use and purpose, real or imaginary, but their structural shape.

II. MONOLITH CROSSES

The peculiar form of many crosses of Cornish type, among others, viz., a thick, rude monolith, with rounded head, is accounted for by some authorities, who pronounce such crosses to be nothing else than primeval menhirs. These venerated stones, then, it is stated, instead of being demolished on the conversion of the populace from paganism, were retained, and, after having the crucifixion or some other Christian device incised, or sculptured in bas-relief, upon the upper portion of the shaft, pressed into the service of the newly adopted faith.

Such, at any rate, was the practice of St Patrick, in the fifth century. It is true that if in any place he found the old superstitious worship too deep-rooted and perverse to admit of transformation, as it befell at Magh Sleacht, in County Cavan, where he encountered a group of thirteen pagan menhirs, he could not do but overthrow them without ruth; but whenever, on the other hand, as beside Lough Hacket, in County Galway, he found other menhirs, the popular regard for which was capable of being diverted into Christian channels, he spared the pillar-stones, sanctifying them with holy names and emblems.

The cutting away of certain portions of the top of the stone would result in a short-armed cross; or, again, a little shaping, combined with piercing, would produce the four-holed cross, so-called, viz., a cross within a ring or circle. It should be remarked at the outset that the dating of these early monuments is a study which has hitherto been strangely neglected. Antiquaries, like the late J. Romilly Allen, for example, have analysed and codified the ornamented motifs of early crosses with methodical precision; but the chronological side of the subject is still a matter of debate. So widely do experts differ that sometimes it happens that the same monument will be assigned by some to the fifth or sixth, and by others to later dates ranging to the twelfth century. Even when the cross happens to be inscribed with runes, which might be expected to afford an authentic clue as to its date and origin, the readings and interpretations propounded by connoisseurs are so irreconcilable as to make one sceptical of arriving at truth or finality through their guidance. The whole question of chronology yet awaits investigation by some competent authority. It must be understood, therefore, that the dates attributed to the several examples in this section cannot pretend to be anything else but approximate, although every care has been taken to obtain the most approved estimate.

TWO VIEWS OF MONOLITH IN THE CHURCHYARD]

VIEWS OF CROSS IN CHURCHYARD, SHOWING FRONT AND BACK]

DETAILS OF CROSSES, WITH PLAN, SHOWING HOW THEY STAND]

South of the church, in the churchyard at Bewcastle, Cumberland, stands an obelisk or shaft of an early cross (Figs. 3, 25, and 26), strikingly like the famous cross at Ruthwell, in Dumfriesshire. The head of the latter is fairly complete, but in the case of the Bewcastle cross "the head was broken off long ago," wrote Bishop G. F. Browne. "About the year 1600, it was sent ... to Lord Arundel, and, beyond a description in Camden, with an attempt at a representation of the Runic inscription it bore, nothing has been heard of it since." The height of the surviving part is 14 ft. 6 in. It is incised with Anglian runes, which, however, are so much worn, and have been so variously rendered, that no reliance can be placed on their alleged authority. Scholars also differ widely as to the date of the cross, some placing it as early as 665, and others even as late as 1150. The west face comprises three standing human figures, in three tiers, the lowest depicting a man with a hawk, while the middle one, a nimbed figure, has been identified as Christ setting His feet upon the heads of monsters. On the east face is one long uninterrupted vine scroll, with birds and beasts in the volutes. The north and south faces are subdivided into panels containing chequers, interlaced knots, and scrollwork. In one of the scrolls on the south face is the oldest detached dial in existence, as distinct from dials on the walls of buildings. It presents a combination of the old 24-system and the octaval system; but the gnomon is missing.

In the churchyard of Eyam, Derbyshire, is a peculiarly handsome cross, of Anglo-Saxon workmanship, of about the year 700 (Figs. 27 and 28). The cross now measures 9 ft. 4 in. high; but the head is detached and obviously incomplete, if indeed it belongs to the shaft at all. Assuming, however, that it does belong, the existing lines and proportions would make the cross in its original state attain a total height of some 11 ft. 6 in. The width across the arms is 3 ft. 3 in. Both faces of the cross-top are sculptured with four angels each, that one at the intersection being encircled with a ring. All that part of the head below the central medallion is missing. The obverse of the shaft has two panels of figure-subjects above a very rich and elaborate interlaced knot-ornament. The edges have an interlaced pattern derived from a six-cord plait. The reverse of the shaft is occupied with the volutes of a "vine scroll."

In the churchyard of Bakewell, Derbyshire, stands the relic of a monolith with short-limbed cross-head (Fig. 39). It dates from about 800 to 900; and, exclusive of the boulder which forms the base, stands 7 ft. 10 in. high, by about 2 ft. wide over all at the widest part. One portion is sculptured with four compartments of figure-subjects, presumably scriptural, the uppermost one being apparently a crucifixion, though the stone is too much curtailed, and the ornament too broken, for certainty on the point. The other face and the sides are occupied with so-called vine scroll, an adaptation of debased classical Roman work.

CROSS IN THE CHURCHYARD]

The two mutilated crosses standing side by side in the market square at Sandbach, Cheshire (Figs. 29, 30, and 31), have had an eventful history. Dating from the ninth century, it is on record that they were still standing in 1585; but, since they are not mentioned by Webb in 1621, the assumption is that they had been broken up in the interval. Anyhow, the different parts became dispersed. Some were taken, by Sir John Crewe, to Utkinton Hall, where they remained until his death in 1711. They were subsequently removed to Tarporley rectory. Thence, after Cole, the antiquary, had seen and made drawings of them in 1757, they were taken to Oulton Park, where they were seen and drawn by S. Lysons. Other portions, however, of these crosses never left Sandbach, some of the lower parts being built into a wall by the town well, while the summit was found to have been buried in a garden. Lastly, through the zealous instrumentality of Dr George Ormerod, the various fragments were collected, and re-erected at Sandbach in September 1816. "The two crosses stand on a substructure of two steps, with two sockets, in which the crosses are fixed. At the angle of each stage of the platform are stone posts, on which figures have been rudely carved." The head of either cross had been broken off, so that their proper height has been reduced. "The crosses are now of unequal height.... The taller one is 16 ft. 8 in. high; the shorter one, 11 ft. 11 in." high. Both crosses are of rectangular section, and tapering. It is not easy to convey in words an adequate idea of the extraordinary richness and variety of their sculptured ornament, which includes patterns derived from three-cord, four-cord, and eight-cord plaits, and figure of eight knots, as well as "much the finest series of figure subjects ... probably in all England." On the larger cross the Crucifixion amid the Evangelistic symbols, and beneath it the Nativity, with the ox and ass adoring, are clearly discernible; but the identification of other subjects is in many cases only conjectural. "The smaller cross bears a variety of human figures placed within ... lozenges." The stone of the crosses is of lower Silurian formation, practically indestructible by the natural action of the weather, a circumstance which accounts for the remarkable preservation of those parts which the wanton hand of man has spared.

The monolith cross in the churchyard at Irton, Cumberland (Fig. 32), stands 9 ft. 8 in. high, and, with the exception of the cross-head, the surface of which is much worn, is a singularly perfect specimen. Its edges are ornamented with quasi-classic vine scrolls. The obverse and reverse are covered with interlaced ornaments and key patterns. The uppermost panel on one face is a diaper formed by a repetition of small Greek crosses, set diagonally. The date of this cross is approximately 950.

The tall sandstone cross, now in the churchyard of Gosforth, in Cumberland (Fig. 33), is classed by the late Mr J. Romilly Allen as belonging to a well-known type, Mercian in origin, in which the shaft is cylindrical below and rectangular in the upper part. It may be dated from about 1000 to 1066. A second cross, which is recorded to have stood at a distance of 7 ft. from the first named, disappeared, probably in the year 1789. In the extant cross the four flat faces of the upper part of the shaft gradually die off into the round surface of the lower part, giving a semicircular line of intersection, which is emphasised by a roll moulding, forming a continuation of the mouldings on the four square angles. The four flat surfaces exhibit a great variety of human and animal forms, with zoomorphic ornament and abstract plaits. Some of the subjects have been interpreted as illustrating the stories of Heimdal and Loke, from Norse mythology, though the whole is actually surmounted by a Christian four-holed cross for head. The round part of the shaft in crosses of this type is not, as a rule, ornamented. The Gosforth cross, therefore, is in this respect exceptional. Its height is 14 ft. 6 in.

CROSS IN THE CHURCHYARD]

Within Whitford parish, Flintshire, about a mile from the village, on open ground, and quite unprotected, stands an ancient monolith cross, known as Maen y Chwyfan (Fig. 36). The name can be traced back at least to the year 1388. The first part of it is identical with the first syllable of the word menhir. The last part of the name is of doubtful signification. Some have thought that the whole means "St Cwyfan's stone." The precise age of the cross is likewise doubtful, but it may be dated from about 950 to 1000. Its total height above ground is 11 ft. 3 in., by 11 in. thick, the stem diminishing in width from 2 ft. 5 in. at the base to 1 ft. 8 in. at the neck of the solid wheel-head, the diameter of which is 2 ft. 4 in. The flat stone, through which the stem passes for support, measures 4 ft. 11 in. by 4 ft. 4 in. The cross is incised on the edges, as well as on both faces; though almost all the ornament of the lower half of the reverse, or west face, has perished. The condition of the obverse, or east face, is by far the most perfect, and exhibits a wonderful combination of patterns--crosses, knots, osier-plaits, and other devices. In the head, the Triquetra, or three-cornered knot, is conspicuous. Altogether the Maen y Chwyfan is the most important and striking monument of its kind in North Wales.

CROSS IN THE CHURCHYARD]

CROSS, NOW IN YORK MUSEUM]

Writing in 1872, Mr J. T. Blight described the early twelfth-century cross (now in the cemetery of Lanherne House Nunnery, Mawgan-in-Pyder, Cornwall) (Fig. 38) as having been "removed several years since from the Chapel Close of the Barton of Roseworthy, in the parish of Gwinear." The crucifix, sculptured in low relief, is of the rudest and most primitive character, while the cross itself belongs to the class known as "four-holed." It is of Pentewan stone. Interlaced work forms the greater part of the ornament, and on the lower portion of the shaft, on either face, is an ancient inscription. The shaft has an unmistakable entasis.

The head of another four-holed cross, the holes having the shape of rough trefoils, is to be seen in the churchyard of St Columb Major, Cornwall. Both faces of the cross are similarly sculptured with the Triquetra (Fig. 37). The height is 3 ft. 1½ in. by 2 ft. 9 in. wide, over all, the material granite.

At Cheadle, Cheshire, in 1875, there were dug up, in a brickfield opposite to the Convalescent Hospital, the fragments of an early cross, probably of the tenth century, of Anglo-Saxon type (Fig. 35). In each limb of the cross, as well as at the intersection, is a convex boss. The material of the cross is a coarse grit stone. The dimensions are 1 ft. 4 in. wide at the greatest width, by 2 ft. 8 in. in height. It is now preserved at the Museum at York.

In the parish churchyard of Whalley, Lancashire, stands a cross (Fig. 34), which was, no doubt, originally a monolith, but has been broken across, and appears to have had its fractured edges trimmed and squared. At any rate, part of the stem, perhaps as much as 2 ft. of the height, where the cross-head rests upon it, is obviously missing. The arms also are missing, but the cross was originally of much the same outline as that of the cross at Irton and that from Cheadle. The ornament of the Whalley cross, however, is of much more refined execution. The date of it may be about 1000.

In the churchyard of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, opposite to the south porch, stands an ancient shaft, 14 ft. high, traditionally known as the Danes' cross (Fig. 2). It rises from a round stone, 7 ft. in diameter, and its form is that of a cylinder, 2 ft. 6 in. in diameter, tapering toward the neck. Almost the entire surface of the shaft is covered with sculptured ornament of about the year 1150 to 1175. There is, or was, a somewhat similar example in the churchyard of Leek, in the same county.

Another twelfth-century cross is that inscribed in memory of Ralph's son, William, at Fletton, in Huntingdonshire (Figs. 40, 41). This cross is a monolith, though the continuity of the design is interrupted by a heavy fillet, forming a horizontal band round the middle of the shaft.

EAST SIDE OF CROSS, NAMED MAEN Y CHWYFAN]

HEAD OF A CROSS IN THE CHURCHYARD]

LANHERNE HOUSE NUNNERY, CROSS FROM ROSEWORTHY, GWINEAR]

CROSS IN CHURCHYARD]

FRONT AND BACK OF CROSS]

CROSS AT ST GILES' HOSPITAL]

PERCY'S CROSS]

CROSS IN THE ABBEY CHURCHYARD]

The remains of the cross in the grounds of the Spital at Hexham (Fig. 42) offer an instance of vine scrollwork, derived from debased late-classic ornament. Another side of the shaft is sculptured in low relief with a primitive representation of the Crucifixion between two figures, which, however, bear but slight resemblance to the Mary and John of post-Conquest tradition.

On the plain of Hedgeley Moor, near Wooler, in the north part of Northumberland, stands a monolith, commonly known as Percy's Cross (Fig. 43), because it is alleged to mark the spot where, on 24th April 1464, Sir Ralph Percy fell in a desperate attempt, on the part of Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI., to recover the throne for her demented husband. So rude and primitive is this monument that it is hard to believe that it could have been executed in the technically skilled period of the fifteenth century. It displays conspicuously, however, the badges of the house of Percy--the luces, or pike, the mascles, and the crescents, sculptured on its eight sides. The pillar stands on a plain, rugged socket. This cross became the rallying point, where the men of the north, opposed to the religious innovations of Henry VIII., gathered under the banner of the Five Wounds, badge of the ill-starred Pilgrimage of Grace, in 1536-7. Percy's Cross, on Hedgeley Moor, must not be confounded with the Percy Cross at Otterburn, erected to commemorate the battle of Chevy Chase, fought on 19th August 1388. The latter cross is a simple monolith, which has a decided entasis, and is mounted on a pile of masonry, resembling but roughly a flight of circular steps.

The cross in the churchyard of Blanchland Abbey, Northumberland (Fig. 44), is an interesting example of Gothic design applied to a monolith. From the style of its head this cross can scarcely date back any earlier than the late-thirteenth, or early-fourteenth century.

III. THE SHAFT-ON-STEPS TYPE

The average form of standing cross, and such to which the vast majority of them, not in churchyards only, but also on village greens and squares, or by the wayside, belongs, is that of the shaft-on-steps type. The fully developed cross of this sort consists of steps or calvary, socket, shaft or stem, capital or knop, and head. The latter, it should be remarked, is that part of the cross which, no doubt on account of the sacred or legendary significance of the figures sculptured upon it, is now most commonly absent. The remaining elements consisting of such simple units, it is truly wonderful how great variety of treatment is to be observed in crosses of the kind. The resources of their design may almost be said to be unlimited. It rarely happens that any two examples are found quite alike in all respects. For though the simplest of motifs be adopted, yet a minute change of detail, such as a hollow chamfer instead of a plain, flat bevel, or the setting of an angle pedestal diagonally instead of squarely with the side it adjoins, or some such other slight divergence, if insignificant in itself, will not fail to produce, by consistent repetition, a widely different result in the aggregate. The parts which lend themselves more appropriately than the rest to ornamental treatment are the socket, the knop, and most of all, the head. The steps, whether circular, rectangular, hexagonal, or octagonal on plan, are not made the subject for ornament, except rarely, and then it is confined to a moulded overhanging drip, or a moulded set-off in the angle between the tread and the riser, as for example, at Bishop's Lydeard (Fig. 20), Charlton Mackerel (Fig. 19), and North Petherton, in Somersetshire (Fig. 77), and Raunds, in Northamptonshire (Fig. 45). Raunds cross has two steps, and the riser of the upper one is enriched with late-Gothic quatrefoil panelling. Such treatment, however, is altogether exceptional; and even in this case can scarcely be authentic, seeing that the quatrefoils are not properly spaced, as they must have been spaced, had they been designed for the position they now occupy.

CHURCHYARD CROSS]

On the other hand, the stone block or socket, into which the shaft is mortised (and furthermore, as a rule, secured with lead), was regarded as a thoroughly appropriate place for ornament. It is most usually square on plan, and its upper bed made octagonal by means of steps or broaches, in the shaping of which a very great variety is manifested. The commonest form of step is diamond-pointed, but there are others which take the shape of a sort of round hump. Examples of plain diamond steps occur in the sockets of Thatcham (Fig. 61) and Water Perry (Fig. 4) crosses. The socket at Stanway, Gloucestershire (Fig. 60), with its severely geometrical triangles and lozenges, is of most unusual form. It measures 1 ft. 10 in. high, exclusive of the fractured stump of the shaft. Convex angle-stops occur at Carlton (Fig. 63), Cumnor (Fig. 59), Stringston (Fig. 5), and Wicken (Fig. 62). The socket of the last-named cross is 2 ft. 6 in. square by 1 ft. 8 in. high. Its octagonal shaft is 11½ in. square at the foot, with pointed stops reaching up to a height of 9 in. Some of the round stops, at the corners of sockets, have a diagonal ridge extending to the outer angle, as at Carlton (Fig. 63), Stevington (Fig. 17), and Stringston (Fig. 5). The knop of the last-named, it may be mentioned, consisted of four demi-angels, holding shields, but their heads have been broken off, and themselves made almost unrecognisable through defacement. To resume, the sockets of the crosses at Elmswell in Suffolk, at Bradford Abbas and Stalbridge (Fig. 58), both in Dorsetshire, and of at least a dozen crosses in Somersetshire, including Doulting (Figs. 74, 75, and 76), Evercreech, Minehead, North Petherton (Fig. 77), West Pennard, and Wraxall, have angle-pedestals on every alternate cant of the octagon. These pedestals may have been designed for statuettes of the four Evangelists. Whatever the subject of the figures, the effect of the whole group, with the tall shaft in the middle, must have been very handsome. At Dundry (Fig. 78) and Wick St Laurence, both in Somersetshire, instead of detached or engaged pedestals, there are, at the angles of the square socket, clasping buttresses with mouldings. The plan of Dundry, Wraxall, and Yatton is made extra elaborate and complex by means of a plinth, forming an eight-pointed figure, inserted between the socket and the topmost step of the calvary.

At Headington (Figs. 69 and 70), Ombersley (Figs. 66, 67, and 68), Raglan (Fig. 71), and Wicken (Fig. 62), the sockets are handsomely panelled with late-Gothic tracery ornament, principally quatrefoils. The sockets of Doulting (Figs. 74, 75, and 76) and West Pennard crosses, in Somersetshire, have emblems of the Passion carved on the sides; that at Charlton Mackerel (Fig. 19) has the Evangelistic symbols in the same position. More rarely, as at Bishop's Lydeard (Fig. 20) and Long Sutton, both also in Somersetshire, and at Rampisham and Stalbridge (Fig. 58), both in Dorsetshire, and Yarnton, Oxfordshire (Figs. 51 and 52), the panels of the socket contain sculptured figure-subjects. An octagonal socket at Westcote, Gloucestershire, has a standing figure under a trefoiled niche on each side. This is an early example, since its date is the thirteenth century. At Didmarton, in the same county, is a fourteenth-century socket, octagonal on plan, having a half-length figure sculptured on every alternate side.

The churchyard cross at Dorchester, Oxfordshire (Fig. 65), had lost its original head by the time that Buckler made his sketch in 1813. According to him, the lower step was 6 in. high, and the next one above it 10 in. high. The socket was 1 ft. 7 in. square on plan, by 1 ft. 6 in. high; the shaft being a monolith 8 ft. 6½ in. high from socket to head. As to the socket, the transition from square to octagon, by means of stops, is very effective. The cross has since suffered drastic "restoration." The treatment of the stops on the socket may be compared with that at Keyingham, Yorkshire (Fig. 64), and Headington, Oxfordshire (Fig. 69).

The Whitefriars' cross (Figs. 72 and 73), so-called, about a mile from Hereford, is believed to have been built, shortly after the great plague at Hereford in the fourteenth century, by Lewis Charlton, Bishop from 1361 to 1369. On the summit of a lofty flight of seven steps rises a high pedestal, hexagonal on plan, each side of which has a sunk panel, sculptured with a shield charged with a lion rampant. The cornice is embattled, and the whole was crowned with a moulded socket. Such was the state of the monument in 1806, the shaft and cross-head having completely disappeared, thereby reducing the total height to some 15 ft. A new shaft and cross, disproportionately large, were "restored" by the year 1875. The peculiar feature of this cross is the lofty pedestal, which scarcely has any parallel, with the exception of the crosses of Helpston, in Northamptonshire, and of Aylburton and Clearwell, both in Gloucestershire.

As to the shaft, whether it be cylindrical, clustered, square, or octagonal, it usually tapers, but is very seldom ornamented, beyond having a stop near the foot of each alternate cant in an octagonal stem. A few crosses may now be described, illustrating different treatments of the shaft.

The cross in the churchyard at Rocester, Staffordshire (Figs. 47 and 48), has three steps, each 6 in. high. The socket is 2 ft. 4 in. high, and the tapering stem, which is 1 ft. square over all at the bottom, is 11 ft. 9 in. high, exclusive of the capital. The stem, in the form of four keel-moulded shafts, with a vertical strip of dog-tooth ornament between them, must be of early date, possibly as early as 1230.

The socket of the Great Grimsby churchyard cross (Fig. 49) may be earlier still, although the stem or shaft itself might be somewhat later, perhaps about the middle of the thirteenth century. On plan the stem consists of four engaged shafts, each with a keel-mould on its outermost projection. The step is 3 ft. 8 in. square by 9 in. high. Next is a socket, 2 ft. 7 in. square on plan, consisting of two stages, the lower having a trefoiled arcade on each of its four sides, the upper one octagonal, with mouldings. The shaft is 6 ft. 2 in. high, including the capital. The total height is 10 ft. 3 in.

The village cross at Harringworth, Northamptonshire, has, not unlike the last example, a shaft composed of a cluster of eight engaged columns. It is apparently of late thirteenth-century date.

Two Oxfordshire examples, both of about the same date, 1290, viz., the churchyard cross at Yarnton (Figs. 51 and 52) and the market cross at Eynsham (Fig. 50), are adorned with sculpture, notably with canopied figures in low relief surrounding the foot of the shaft. Both shafts are much weather-worn, and that of Yarnton has lost its upper half, but the design of the two crosses appears to have been very similar. Yarnton cross stands upon two circular steps, the lower one of which has a diameter of about 6 ft. 9 in. or 7 ft. The socket has a circular plinth cut out of the same block of stone, and is on plan a quatrefoil of four circles, with the corners of a smaller square occupying the inner angles. The moulded capping is also cut in the same block. On each of the four semicircular faces is a niche incised with a figure in armour, kneeling, except on the eastern face, which exhibits a figure reclining somewhat in the familiar "Dying Gaul" attitude. The figure on the south face has a shield on the left arm. The bottom of the shaft is square on plan, with beaded angles, while the other part is on plan a circle, surrounded by four smaller engaged circles, or segments of circles. The figures round the shaft are four saints, now too much worn to be identified, under steep gables, with crockets. The cross at Eynsham differs from that at Yarnton more in the socket than in any other part. The Eynsham socket is a square block, with a figure sculptured at each angle, and gabled panels between. The upper part of the shaft is complete, and shows what must have been the form of the portion now wanting from Yarnton cross.

Another instance of an ornamented shaft is that of Mitchel Troy (Fig. 57). There the stem, a monolith of reddish sandstone, about 1 ft. by 8 in. on plan at the foot, tapers to about half the above dimensions at the point where it is broken off, at a height of about 11 ft. The angles are chamfered, and the chamfers are ornamented with ball-flowers alternating with shields, sixteen ball-flowers on each chamfer. The date of this cross is the fourteenth century. Two Northamptonshire crosses, those of Higham Ferrers (_c._ 1320) and Irthlingborough (_c._ 1280) respectively (Figs. 55 and 56), are ornamented with sculptured decorations throughout the whole height of the shaft. At Ashton-under-Hill, Gloucestershire, the face of the shaft of the cross, about a third of the distance up from the bottom, is ornamented with a scutcheon. A certain number of Somersetshire crosses has a figure under a niche on one side of the shaft. In cases where, as at Burton St David, Broadway, Holford, Montacute, and Wiveliscombe, the niche and figure are sunk into the body of the monolith itself, there can scarcely be any objection to the device. But where, on the contrary, the statue, set on a bracket, stands prominently forward beyond the face of the shaft, the effect is anything but happy. For then the shaft looks so weighted down in one direction as almost to overbalance. The crosses at Bishop's Lydeard (Fig. 20) and Crowcombe (Fig. 118) are particularly exaggerated instances in point; others only less marked being the crosses at Drayton (Fig. 54), Fitzhead, Heathfield, Hinton St George, and Horsington (Fig. 53). But this peculiarity is not confined to Somersetshire. Thus, at Stalbridge, Dorsetshire (Fig. 58), a conspicuous statue and niche occur on one side of the shaft, while at Bradford Abbas, in the same county, the churchyard cross, though much decayed, affords unmistakable traces of having had a statue sculptured on each of the four sides of the shaft. A similar arrangement is to be found in Langley Abbey cross, Norfolk.

HEAD OF CROSS]

The knop, though richly sculptured, is rarely the pronounced and distinctive feature that it is at Maughold (Figs. 86, 87), St Donat's (Figs. 108, 109), and Sherburn-in-Elmet (Fig. 113), or in the so-called Ravenspurne cross, a monument now standing at Hedon, Yorkshire (Fig. 79). The chamfers of its shaft have traces of figures about midway, and the head is large and imposing, but too ill-defined for the subject to be identified. It has, however, been described as having "curious sculptured emblems of our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary." The cross is said to have been erected to commemorate the landing of Henry IV. in 1399 at Ravenspur, near Spurn Head, in the East Riding. Edward IV. also landed there in 1471. Ravenspur was a well-known seaport in former times, but its site is now completely submerged. The cross stood on the seashore at Kilnsea until 1818, when it was removed further inland, for safety from the encroaching sea. It was eventually set up in the town of Hedon.

Usually the knop is reduced to a mere bead, or at any rate is nothing more prominent than the expanding cove beneath the actual head, as at Ampney Crucis, Derwen, and in the two crosses at Cricklade. A factor of immense importance in preserving the organic coherence between shaft and head (wherever the latter takes the form of a cross) is that the lines of the shaft below the knop and of the lower limb of the cross above the knop, should be absolutely continuous, as though passing through, but not interrupted by, the knop. This requisite is satisfactorily exemplified by two very fine Lincolnshire specimens, viz., the well proportioned cross at Somersby (Fig. 81), and one, now at Keyingham, Yorkshire (Fig. 80), known, from the name of him who set it up there, as the Owst cross, since the exact place from which it originally came in Lincolnshire has not been recorded. In both these instances, the handsome knop, moulded and embattled, is but a surrounding band or ring, which occasions no sort of break in the composition, nor interferes at all with the even trend of its upward lines. At Somersby the motif of the crenellated knop is admirably followed up in the battlements of the gabled roof over the head of the crucifix. The shaft is octagonal, and the cross stands altogether 15 ft. high.

The crown and glory of the cross is the head, and it was upon this that the choicest art of the sculptor was lavished; and it is instructive to trace the development from the rudimentary crudities of the thirteenth to the perfect maturity of the late-fifteenth century.

In pulling down an old barn in the village of Rothersthorp, Northamptonshire, in 1869, there was found the head of a cross (Fig. 46), which was placed in the parish church in about 1890. The stone is 2 ft. 9 in. high by 1 ft. 3 in. wide. The crucifix, which is surrounded by a ring, springs from a mass of thirteenth-century foliage, the capital beneath being surrounded with a belt of foliage of similar kind.

At Halesowen, Worcestershire (Fig. 82), in or about 1915, there was found, built into the walls of a cottage, the sculptured head of a cross, which may date as far back as 1300 to 1320. It is of red sandstone, and much weatherworn, besides the deliberate defacement which it has undergone. On plan it is an oblong square, 10 in. by 6 in., the extreme height being 1 ft. 7½ in. On one side is a crucifixion without attendant figures; and, on the opposite side, the Blessed Virgin enthroned, holding her Divine Son on one arm and an apple in the other hand. The ends of the cross-head contain unidentified figures, one a female saint, conjectured to be St Agatha, the other an ecclesiastic, vested in amice and chasuble, and holding his crosier in his left hand. That which he wears on his head is broken, but it looks more like a tiara than a mitre. This cross-head is a peculiarly interesting example, not only because of its early date, but also because its existence is hardly known.

The cross-head found among the ruins of Croxden Abbey, Staffordshire (Fig. 88), and sketched by Buckler in the first half of the nineteenth century, is of a somewhat unusual type for its purpose, with handsome crocketing. The Christ has the feet crossed and fastened with a single nail in the newer fashion, though the arms are, in the ancient mode, perfectly horizontal. The work dates probably from the closing years of the fourteenth century.

How widely individual treatment might vary within a comparatively short space of time is illustrated by the fragments of the cross-head, found built into the east gable of North Hinksey church, in Berkshire, near Oxford (Figs. 83, 84, and 85). The cross is of rich floriation, overlaid upon which is a perfectly plain narrow cross, bearing the image of the Crucified, Whose feet are crossed, as at Croxden; while, on the contrary, the arms and hands are dragged upward in the fashion that prevailed at a much later period. This cross-head belongs to about the middle of the fourteenth century. The shaft and steps still stand in the churchyard, to the south of the chancel. The shaft is fractured at a height of 8 ft. 9 in. from the socket; the total height, including socket and steps, is 13 ft. 8 in.

At Bleadon, Somersetshire, "a few years ago," wrote C. Pooley in 1877, during the restoration of the church, in removing the plaster, there was found embedded in a recess in the east wall of the porch, the sculptured stone head of a cross of the time of Edward III. (Fig. 89). The side exposed, the reverse, portrays the Blessed Virgin and Child between two donors, a man and woman, kneeling. The remarkable feature of this cross-head is the gilding and polychrome decoration, of which considerable traces had survived. The crucifix, on the obverse, being turned inward to the wall, is hidden from view; but, since this particular cross belongs to the same group as those, for example, of Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Stringston, and Wedmore, in the same county, in which the upper part of the figure-sculpture is pierced through from front to back, the arms and upper limb of the cross remain clearly visible from the reverse side.

In the churchyard of Newmarket, Flintshire (Figs. 90, 91), stands a remarkable cross, with octagonal socket and shaft, both having diamond-pointed stops. The shaft is 6 ft. 5 in. high, and surmounted with a massive capital or knop. The head is tabernacled on all four faces, but its end niches are empty. The niches of the obverse and reverse have each a crucifixion, the one unaccompanied, the other between Mary and John. This curious anomaly of a double yet divergent representation in one and the same cross-head occurs also at Mitton, Yorkshire. The cross-head at Newmarket measures 3 ft. 6 in. wide at its widest, by 1 ft. 6 in. from front to back. The date of the work is about the middle of the fourteenth century.

At Maughold, Isle of Man (Figs. 86, 87), just outside the churchyard gate, and at a distance of about 90 ft. from the north-west angle of the church, stands a cross of very remarkable design, quite unlike the distinctive Manxland type. It is, in fact, of middle-Gothic, belonging, to all appearance, with its blunt cusps and its turgid crockets and finial, to the approximate period of 1330 to 1340. Some authorities, however, assign it to a date some hundred years or more later. The head and knop are in two pieces, which, being of St Bees sandstone, a material foreign to the island, must have been imported thither, perhaps already carved complete, ready for fixing. The knop is square, measuring 14 in. every way. The head is 2 ft. 7 in. high, by 18 in. wide at the widest part, by 8 in. thick. Both head and shaft are tenoned into the knop. The shaft, 5 ft. 1 in. high, is octagonal throughout the greatest extent of its length, but the alternate sides have stops, so that the shaft is actually square on plan at top and bottom. The head is of most unusual shape, the principal panel on either side presenting a sort of rough resemblance to a pointed spade; and containing, on the west, a Madonna and Child, and, on the east, a crucifixion, with the arms spread out quite horizontally, after the manner of earlier tradition. On the knop, under the crucifix, is a heater-shaped shield, bearing, alone of the six shields in the composition, a heraldic charge, viz., the Three Legs of Man (only reversed), with huge rowels to the spurs. The shield on the knop beneath the Madonna has a rose encircled by a ring, which has a bezel in the form of a cross. The north side has, at the top, a shield with a double rose. Lower down, on the same edge of the head, are rude representations of oak leaves, pointing downward; and below, on the knop, is a shield with a chalice, which has the invected foot with points, characteristic of the fourteenth century. The shield at the top of the south edge is per fess, a bud or flower with two wavy leaves on either hand; while underneath are three oak leaves on the shield itself, and one below the shield. Beneath the last-named leaf is a sunk panel with the representation of a warrior on his knees (no doubt the donor), turning, with hands upraised, toward the Madonna in the adjoining panel. On the knop, below the kneeling figure, is a shield with an unidentified charge, a square object entirely composed of vertical flutings, above an oak leaf. The top surface of the head is almost flat, and appears to have borne a capstone, the dowel holes for attaching which yet remain. The shaft is let into a plain square socket. The cross, though weathered, is in wonderful preservation, and is now protected by an iron railing. It is not known ever to have stood on any other than the present site.

At Wheston, a hamlet in Tideswell, Derbyshire, is a roadside cross of stone, of the late-fourteenth century, with octagonal, tapering shaft, culminating in a cusped rood, the uppermost limb of which is appreciably shorter than the arms (Figs. 92, 93). On the obverse is a crucifix with the arms horizontally outstretched. The figure is bared to the waist, but the remainder of the body downwards is missing. On the reverse is a Virgin and Child, a Gothic rosette being sculptured near the end of each limb of the cross. The figure-sculpture is coarse and primitive. The shaft is mounted on four steps, the topmost one of which forms the socket, and, by means of diamond stops, assumes an octagonal plan.

The cross in the churchyard at Lanteglos juxta Fowey, Cornwall (Figs. 94, 95), was discovered, about the year 1850, "buried deeply in the trench which runs round the wall of the church." After having lain prostrate for two or three years more, it was at last raised and placed erect, with a disused millstone for base, near the church porch. It is of granite, encrusted with lichen. The shaft, 8 ft. high, is octagonal, and tapers slightly from 14 in. at greatest width across the bottom; the four alternate sides being sculptured with sunk panelling, wheels, and rosettes of Gothic character. The head, about 2 ft. high, is an oblong square on plan. The widest sides have double canopies, with the Crucifixion, unattended, on the north, and the Blessed Virgin and Child on the south. The ends, being narrower, have each a single canopy, enshrining an unidentified figure. Mr J. T. Blight supposed them to represent Saints Peter and Paul; but Mr F. T. S. Houghton believes that one of the two is meant for St Tecla. So far as one may venture to judge from the extremely rude and unskilled figure-sculpture, the work seems to be of the late-fourteenth century. The above cross is typical of a certain number of Cornish crosses belonging to the matured mediæval period, in which the head is set direct on to the shaft, without intervening neck, or knop. Besides this feature there should be noted another characteristic in the crosses, for instance, at Callington, St Ives (Fig. 96), and Mawgan-in-Pyder (Figs. 106, 107), to wit their disproportionately thick and sturdy stem, as contrasted with the moderate size of the head.

At St Ives the cross-head was unearthed in the churchyard in 1832, and re-erected on a new base in 1852. The height of the cross, as now standing, is 10 ft. 6 in. The reverse of the sculptured head portrays the Madonna and Child, with a kneeling figure, most likely meant for the donor. The obverse is remarkable because the Crucifixion is introduced not, so to speak, _per se_, but rather incidentally, as constituting part of the Holy Trinity group. The crucified Son, then, is placed between the knees of the Eternal Father, Whose hands upraised on either side, the right in benediction, may be observed above the arms of the crucifix. All and any representations of this nature, depicting the Trinity, were peculiarly obnoxious to the reformers, and are yet commonly objected to as being "anthropomorphic." Similar representations of the Trinity occur on one side of the cross-head, with the Crucifixion on the other side, at Cogenhoe, in Northamptonshire, and Pocklington, in the East Riding of Yorkshire (Figs. 114, 115). There is also a Trinity in the head of the cross at Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire.

The same subject again is sculptured in the head of another Cornish cross, that in Mawgan-in-Pyder churchyard (Figs. 106, 107). It is made of Catacluse stone, and is a late-Gothic example, with very rich tabernacle-work in the head. In fact, it was singled out by the late J. T. Blight as "the most elaborate specimen of the kind in Cornwall." On the opposite side to the Trinity is a subject of uncertain identity, most likely the Annunciation. A single figure, vested in pontificals, occupies either end of the head. The shaft is hexagonal, with diamond-pointed stops, now much overgrown and practically hidden from view. It stands 5 ft. 2 in. high.

At Ampney Crucis, Gloucestershire (Figs. 97, 98, 99), the churchyard cross was overthrown at some unknown period. In January 1854 the head of it was discovered, built up amid a heap of rubbish in the cavity of the rood-staircase. Taken thence, it was reinstated in its proper place in the churchyard about 1860. There are two stone steps, which measure respectively 7 ft. 6 in. and 5 ft. square, and an octagonal socket. The shaft is square on plan, changing, by means of stops, into an octagon. The stops, however, instead of terminating in diamond-points, or otherwise dying away into the chamfer, are crowned with engaged pinnacles, extending some way up the canted sides, a most unusual and charming device. It is a misfortune that the effect of this fine cross is spoilt by the faulty, modern treatment of the upper portion of the stem, which, being made too short, is obliged to contract much too abruptly to the junction with the head. Instead of tapering truly, with a series of straight lines converging gradually upward, the shaft is pared away in a concave outline, which results in very serious disfigurement. The total height is only about 10 ft. The head is in excellent preservation, and, though not elaborate, an exceedingly beautiful specimen. It is an oblong square on plan, and thus has two wide sides (occupied respectively by the Blessed Virgin and Child, and by the Crucifixion between Mary and John) and two narrow ends (one occupied by an unidentified ecclesiastic, the other by an unidentified warrior). The canopies are severely plain, being no more than cusped trefoils; while the top is coped in the shape of a gabled roof. The work is of the latter part of the fourteenth century.