West Wyke Farm Cross

Trip No.132  Entry No.15  Date Added: 9th Oct 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 13th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: West Wyke Farm Cross: This cross is not recorded on Pastscape or Historic England, so we didn't expect to see it here. It looks relatively modern, like a small rounded-headed grave marker such as we saw in St Mary's in Belstone. It sits quietly by the entrance to the farm buildings, north of the track and West Wyke farmhouse.

Note: the track up to the farm and houses here is marked private road. We parked at the viewpoint at SX 65298 93020 and walked up the lane.

St John's Cross (Canongate)

Trip No.153  Entry No.1  Date Added: 9th Oct 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Midlothian)
Visited: Yes on 1st Oct 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: St John's Cross, Edinburgh (site of): The site of this cross was one of the clues (no. 6) on the 'Treasure Trail' map for the Old Town Trail. The markings for this cross were very faint indeed. I only recognised the spot by the circle of bricks in the road, as I’d seen similar features before. There is a plaque on the wall nearby.

From the funny, small brass plates in the road and pavement just to the west, at the junction of High Street and Canongate (W-E) and Jeffrey Street-Saint Mary's Street to the east, the cross would have been located just outside the old city walls.

Whilst I've been to Edinburgh on a number of occasions, I have never walked down Canongate before, and it was a great spot for discovering 'old things and old sites'.

St Andrew's Church (Bywell)

Trip No.150  Entry No.2  Date Added: 27th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 10th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St Andrew's Church, Bywell: Living only a few miles from here and having visited, and taken friends there, many times over the years, it seemed remiss not to go down and photograph the wonderful collection of medieval cross slabs built into the fabric of this ancient church. Armed with Peter Ryder's "Medieval Cross Slab Grave Covers in Northumberland, 1: South West Northumberland" from Archaeologia Aeliana, Series 5, XXVIII, we were able to find all the slabs on his list - 27 in total. Brilliant! Really enjoyed this visit.

St Peter's (Bywell)

Trip No.151  Entry No.1  Date Added: 27th Sep 2019
Site Type: Early Christian Sculptured Stone Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 14th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St Peter's, Bywell: Having photographed the cross slabs at St. Andrew's on 10th September 2019, we walked down to St Peter's to try and photograph the slabs Peter Ryder has recorded here. Unfortunately, the church was locked, so we photographed the few slabs on the outside of the building, returning on 14th September, after having ascertained from the vicar the church's opening hours.

This is a really lovely spot, right next to the River Tyne, with the Bywell Village/Market cross and St Andrew's Church, Bywell, with its significant collection of medieval cross slabs and its Anglo Saxon sculptured stones.

St Andrew's Church (Corbridge)

Date Added: 26th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 14th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St. Andrew's Church, Corbridge: We returned to this beautiful church, right in the heart of Corbridge, with Peter Ryder's list of medieval grave slabs. Not to be confused with St. Andrew's, Bywell, about 6 miles away.

Always a draw for visitors, this is a peaceful and thought provoking church. As we started on our list of slabs, working out way down the list from 1-21, the Canon came in with a couple of choristers and started practicing for a service, so parts of the church were 'out of bounds' to avoid disturbing them. We returned briefly on Sunday, 22nd September, mid-afternoon, to photograph the couple of slabs remaining. We were unable to find slab 21, but later realised we were looking in the wrong place, so will return to complete the list.

St Andrew's Church (Corbridge)

Date Added: 26th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 16th Mar 2014. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St Andrew's Church, Corbridge: My first proper visit to this church to find, and photograph, the Anglo Saxon cross fragments and grave markers in the south transept. What a beautiful church.

Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens

Trip No.152  Entry No.2  Date Added: 26th Sep 2019
Site Type: Museum Country: England (Tyne and Wear)
Visited: Yes on 20th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 4 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Sunderland Museum: Despite having been here for many meetings and conferences over the years, I've never wandered around this museum - a series of permanent and special displays in themed rooms off the main corridor leading from the main entrance/gift shop to the cafeteria.

Having spent longer than we thought (well, it was VERY interesting!) at St. Peter's, we knew we didn't have time to go the Minster to see their stones collection before shutting to visitors at 2.30pm, so came here instead (it was supposed to be our third, and last, stop of the afternoon).

We focused mainly on the Secrets of the Past Exhibition on the ground floor, which has some of the Anglo Saxon stone fragments recorded by the Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculpture. Not all of them (mostly the smallest) fragments were on display, so I have asked if it's possible for us to see, and photograph, these.

There were also prehistoric cists with grave goods, stone axes, jewellery, and other artefacts on display.

The museum seemed largely deserted at this time of day, apart from a few people coming down the staircase at the rear of this exhibition hall.

We enjoyed a rather large, and tasty, lunch in the cafeteria before leaving.

St Peter's Church (Monkwearmouth)

Trip No.152  Entry No.1  Date Added: 25th Sep 2019
Site Type: Early Christian Sculptured Stone Country: England (Tyne and Wear)
Visited: Yes on 20th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: St Peter's Church (Monkwearmouth): This trip was made largely thanks to coming across Guy Points' "Gazetteer of Anglo Saxon and Viking Sites: County Durham and Northumberland" (2012), as we hadn't really appreciated what was here. Our intention was to visit St Peter's, go to Sunderland Minster, then walk round Sunderland Museum, although we spent so much time here, we will need to visit the Minster another time.

We were made extremely welcome as soon as we walked through the door, and given a personal tour of the church. Imagine our surprise towards the end, when the guide revealed himself as none other than Guy Points! I was astonished.

Would love to go back and find some of the stones he mentions in his book that we missed on the day, and also have a closer look at the glass and plaster fragments, and sit and enjoy the ambience of the church. Brilliant afternoon!

Old Viney Museum (Corbridge)

Trip No.151  Entry No.2  Date Added: 16th Sep 2019
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 14th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: The Old Viney Museum, Corbridge: [Photographed the Prince's Street Pant at the corner of the road prior to walking up Appletree Lane.] We had long sought out the location of this museum, where we knew some of the stones recorded on the Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculpture were built into its walls. Having found Peter Ryder's Cross Slab papers for south west Northumberland, we finally had a street, so went seeking the property, thinking we'd be able to see it from outside.

We were really fortunate to find the owner of the cottage working in his garage, and he was delighted to show us round, leaving us to take photographs. He was also really interested in the documentation I'd taken along (I have since sent him a copy by way of thanks). His father purchased the museum and adjacent school buildings in the 1970s and his family has owned them ever since.

What a treat! I felt so lucky to be welcomed in and to see these stones, which we've wanted to see for at least three years now. Brilliant.

Bywell Cross

Trip No.150  Entry No.1  Date Added: 12th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 10th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Bywell Cross: Considering we live less than a couple of miles from here, and we regularly pop down to walk around here, I've never really stopped to photograph the cross here. Having decided to photograph the medieval cross slabs in St Andrew's church, I got the camera out, only to find another visitor stopped to look at it.

The gentleman told me he'd been doing an annual walk around this area for the last 5(?) years, and was heading off to Ovingham/Ovington next. I decided to come back and photograph the cross after going to St Andrew's, only to find him still there!

This is a very lovely, peaceful spot, with the River Tyne about 50m away. He did eventually wander off after a brief conversation, and I popped into the field to get a photograph of the cross from its eastern side.

Corbridge Crosses

Trip No.149  Entry No.2  Date Added: 12th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 8th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Corbridge Market Crosses: This is our local village, with some excellent shops, but apart from the church, I've never actually stopped to photograph any of the crosses or the Vicar's Pele. We decided to remedy that today, although with it being a Sunday, I tried to get a photograph of the new market cross without visitors sitting around it, eating lunch. Still, it's lovely to know it's still part of this very active community.

The old cross is very sadly tucked 2m away from the door into the Vicar's Pele - now a micro-pub, with dog's water bowls, tables and chairs and a planter immediately adjacent.

On my wish list is gathering the courage to go into the very small Vicar's Pele and photograph the medieval grave slabs built into its structure, without managing to annoy anyone drinking in there - it is a popular place!

St Mary the Virgin (Blanchland)

Trip No.149  Entry No.4  Date Added: 12th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 8th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Churchyard Cross, Blanchland: The grid reference given by Pastscape is incorrect; theirs places it on moorland to the north west of the village. The cross is at NY 96598 50408.

Blanchland is a relatively remote, but really lovely medieval village, near the border with County Durham. The site of one of five Premonstratensian Abbeys in north-eastern England, with this church having once formed the centre of worship at the monastery here. Today, only part of the church survives, in a really unusual L-shaped form. After the Reformation, the church was left to become ruined, but was partially restored in the mid-18th century. The current building is formed from the north transept (with the tower at its northern end) and the eastern arm of the medieval Abbey church.

We have been to this church before (and occasionally to the Lord Crewe Arms next door, but more often to the White Monk Tearooms opposite). We thought that this churchyard cross was actually a modern grave marker, as it looks relatively modern, but is what Pastscape and Historic England class as "a rare survival" of a complete medieval churchyard cross.

Inside, the church feels somewhat bare, but there are six interesting grave slabs set into the floor of the north transept. Peter Ryder has recorded these, saying they are "without close local parallels".

To see the eastern external walls of the church, you need to relax in the beer garden of the Lord Crewe Arms!

Old Prior Manor House Well (Corbridge)

Trip No.149  Entry No.1  Date Added: 12th Sep 2019
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 8th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: We have driven past this well so many times and said “we need to stop and photograph this” and today we did. I thought it was just a hollow in the wall, with a dry pipe coming through the wall, but no, it is a real well, with water, although no water flowed through the pipe and the water was stagnant and full of vibrant green weed.

Looking over the wall, it had a stone domed well house.

The well is located outside the Old Prior Manor House, at the corner of the B6529, Stagshaw Road and St Helen’s Lane, with the junction with Corchester Lane, which runs to the Corbridge Roman site, diagonally opposite to the south west.

The OS map of 1895 shows the well being sited opposite Trinity Church. The house, also known as Prior Mains, was formerly the Corbridge Rectory.

St Cuthbert's Church (Corsenside)

Trip No.149  Entry No.3  Date Added: 9th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 8th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Cross base at St Cuthbert's, Corsenside: This church is a little gem. After having let ourselves in through 2 gates (one by the A68, the other near the church), the views around the church are lovely. The church was open, and we were surprised to find out how old the chancel and sanctuary are. There were some very interesting grave markers inside the church, including one which was possibly a Tudor wayside cross.

The socket stone is exactly where described, and is one of the most ornate we’ve seen. Although a simple rectangle in shape, the rectangular socket stone as a circular depression above it, and in turn a small gully running just inside the top surface.

Cale Cross (Newcastle)

Trip No.148  Entry No.2  Date Added: 9th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Tyne and Wear)
Visited: Yes on 7th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition -1 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Site of Cale Cross (Newcastle): The plaque commemorating this cross is attached the eastern wall of what I think is 3, Akenside Hill (or possibly Akenside House), on the Quayside, just to the west of the A167 where it is about to go south over the Tyne Bridge, and just north-north-east of the Swing Bridge.

The building sits at the junction of Dean Street and Queen Street, just before Dean Street meets Sandhill (the B1600) and Quayside. I imagine in olden times, this would have been the ideal place for a market.

It was the afternoon before the main Great North Run and Quayside was hugely busy with other races starting and finishing. What a crowd, but a lively, friendly atmosphere. I had great fun finding my way back up the hill through tiny lanes I didn’t know existed, passing the Church of All Saints, a huge viaduct, some of the old city walls and Castle Keep.

The plaque reads: “City of Newcastle upon Tyne. Cale Cross. This market cross where food was sold (cale = cabbage) stood near this spot until 1807. First mentioned in 1309 it was rebuilt in 1783 to design of David Stephenson. Re-erected in the grounds of Blagdon Hall Tyne and Wear County Council”.

If the original cross had gone to Blagdon Hall, I would have set off in search of it, but this is only the 1783 re-design.

White Cross (Newcastle)

Trip No.148  Entry No.1  Date Added: 9th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Tyne and Wear)
Visited: Yes on 7th Sep 2019. My rating: Condition -1 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Site of the White Cross (Newcastle): Having typed 'Cross' and 'Newcastle' into Pastscape, I was surprised to find two crosses come up. So, armed with my GPS I set off to try and find these sites.

This cross used to be located at the corner of Newgate Street and Low Friar Street, north west of the junction of Clayton Street and Newgate Street.

I cross the road regularly here to walk through the lane to the side of the Gate, down towards West Walls and Akhbar’s, but this is a part of the pavement I’ve never been on. About 30m to the south east (following the pavement), outside what is now Debenham’s, a large metal plaque is set into the pavement.

The plaque reads: The White Cross. A medieval market cross, first mentioned around 1410, once stood here. / Sited on Newgate Street near to the junction with Low Friar Street (opposite), for almost 400 years, it marked the main entrance into a host of markets including the Bigg Market, Poultry Market, Groat Market, Wool Market, Iron Market and the Flesh Market. Many of the market names are still in use today as street names within the city centre. / The ‘White Cross’ has taken on at least five different appearances. Originally a simple market cross, it also appeared as a pillar & dial, a cistern for the ‘New Water’ and a stone pillar. / In 1783 it was demolished and rebuilt to the design shown here by David Stephenson, a local Architect who also designed the original Theatre Royal in Mosley Street. It had a pretty little spire, with a good clock, and was ornamented on the four sides with the arms of the Mayor, Magistrates and Sheriff. / In 1808 it was dismantled and rebuilt at the north end of the Flesh Market on the current site of Grey Street. / On 22nd August 1701 a famous incident between Ferdinando Forster MP for Northumberland and John Fenwick of Rock, coal owner, took place at the White Cross. / Whilst attending a ‘Grand Jury’ at the Black Horse Inn, near the crossroads of Clayton Street and Newgate Street the two men argued about family matters. Fenwick challenged Forster and as they went out stabbed Forster from behind. Fenwick escaped but was caught within a week, tried and executed by hanging from the white thorn tree that grew close to the White Cross on 25th September 1701.”

Seal Well (Hexham)

Trip No.147  Entry No.3  Date Added: 6th Sep 2019
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: The Seal/Sele Well, Hexham: Walking into a part of Hexham we’d never been to before, we came across the Cock Shaw Burn which runs SW-NE along the western side of the Sele. We passed a gloriously ornate drinking fountain (now dry) next to the southern side of the school, right next to the footpath. At the western side of the Sele, a footpath turned to our right, downhill. At the bottom, a footbridge crosses the Cock Shaw Burn. We turned left along the footpath running along its southern side, and about 30m along, spotted a stone and cast iron structure behind the nettles.

We managed to trample down the nettles to get a closer look. I unhooked some of the ivy from the ring in the indentation in the middle of the well to get a closer look at the underlying well structure. No-one has seen this well in some time, but it was very nice to find it.

This is a really old part of Hexham, and one we’d never explored before. Nearby, a second burn (presumably the Cowgarth Burn) runs along a cobbled road through Tanner’s Yard.

We went onto find, and photograph, Wine's Well (to the west of Hexham) and the Park Well (to the east). These are recorded as just 'wells' on Pastscape, and have no holy or healing characteristics that I'm aware of.

Eastern Sanctuary Cross (Hexham)

Trip No.147  Entry No.2  Date Added: 6th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 2 Access 5

Log Text: Eastern Sanctuary Cross of Hexham Priory (or just the top of a gate post??): We stopped to photograph the scheduled Glover's Pant before making our way to the eastern side of Hexham. We were incredibly surprised to find this cross base, which we’ve looked for before, but at the old grid reference. On this visit, I spotted it straight away, and took its current grid location with our GPS. It is now sited at the eastern entrance to the car park. Andrew walked right past it, and I might have too, had I not remembered about the carved stone head being in the socket hole! I almost got myself run over trying to take photographs from various angles.

I also found Hodges’ 1897 paper listed in the Pastcape reference (copied in the text below). He reports that the locations of all four of Hexham Priory Sanctuary Crosses were now known. He reports the location of the northern one is at Cross Bank. I’m wondering if this is the one at Crag House, north of Acomb, although this is some 5km from the location of this cross base.

Crag House Cross Base

Trip No.147  Entry No.1  Date Added: 4th Sep 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 3rd Sep 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Crag House Cross Base, north of Acomb: There have been many times I’ve done a search for sites to visit in this area, but found nothing. Now, having recently done a search for holy wells near Hexham, this cross base appeared on the list. Not only was it on Pastscape, but it was also scheduled on HE.

As I was photographing the small stone by the gatepost, a four-by-four pulled up and wound the window down. “Are you looking at the monument?” the lady in the car asked us. “We’ve come to photograph the cross base”, I replied. “Yes, that’s what we call The Monument. We’ve never seen anyone visit it before”.

It turned out they live in Crag House, and are turning the adjacent land into a nature reserve to be handed over to a Wildlife Conservation Trust. The gentleman said he’d never been able to find out what the small stone was for, but we all thought it was some sort of boundary marker.

The lady said she keeps a blog of the work they are doing to their nature reserve, so she was going to say she’d met us photographing the monument.

In Acomb, the name of the cross is heavily reflected in road names leading up to the cross: Cross Bank, etc. The cross base sits at the top of the hill, not far south of the Military Road (B6318), with St. Oswald’s Church at Heavenfield just across the road (within 500m of the cross base). It has amazing views over Hexham.

Sanctuary Stone (Greystoke)

Trip No.146  Entry No.6  Date Added: 30th Aug 2019
Site Type: Early Christian Sculptured Stone Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 27th Aug 2019. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Greystoke Sanctuary Stone: We didn't know this stone was here until I read the church guide book as we walked around the church. There is also a plaque stone somewhere, but we'd almost run out of time today. This stone was disappointing, as it wasn't visible underneath a dense covering of nettles and weeds. I'm now kicking myself for not asking at the swimming pool reception a few metres away if it was possible to pull a few of these away to take a closer look. There was a photograph of the cleared enclosure on the Old Cumbria Gazetteer.