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Sites Anne T has logged on trip number: 129 (View all trips)
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Rolleston Cross
Trip No.129 Entry No.1 Date Added: 21st May 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross
Country: England (Nottinghamshire)
Visited: Yes on 10th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5
Rolleston Cross submitted by Anne T on 21st May 2019. Close up of the stump of the Rolleston Village Cross. Pastscape tells us it once had shields carved into it, although these are no longer visible, and they do not tell us who these belonged to. Dated to the 14th century, the local stocks were once said to be nearby.
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Log Text: Rolleston Cross: This was our first stop on our way down to Dartmoor. Having stopped off in Newark for a very early breakfast, we arrived in Rolleston at 08:30, only to find (not surprisingly!) that the church had not yet been opened. After having photographed the sun dial in the churchyard of Holy Trinity, we walked up to find this old village cross, which I completely missed the first time round, as it blended in with the surrounding pavement and benches!
The very sad remains of an old village cross, but another site to have ticked off the list. By the time we'd photographed this cross stump, we walked back to Holy Trinity to find it now open.
Holy Trinity (Rolleston)
Trip No.129 Entry No.2 Date Added: 21st May 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross
Country: England (Nottinghamshire)
Visited: Yes on 10th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4
Holy Trinity (Rolleston) submitted by Anne T on 21st May 2019. The western side of the top-most block of the three making up the remains of this stone cross.
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Log Text: Cross Shaft Fragments and Cross Slabs, Holy Trinity, Rolleston: By the time we’d photographed the sundial in the churchyard then walked up to the village cross, the church had been opened (thankfully) and we let ourselves in. The cross shaft was immediately opposite the south door into the church, although in a really difficult position to photograph (between a heavy wooden desk with information leaflets and a fire extinguisher). The most ornate section of the cross was to its western side, so after Andrew had moved the chairs, I virtually had to squeeze myself in next to the desk and squat down as best I could to capture the carvings – not the most elegant of positions!
It wasn’t until after I had photographed the cross and was making my way towards the fragments in the eastern wall of the northern aisle that I realised the chairs in the church had been set up in a labyrinth pattern. We did have to move some of the chairs to access several parts of the church, but made sure we put the chairs back exactly where we found them.
Thank goodness I had my printouts with Peter Ryder’s drawings and descriptions, as we would have missed a lot here! We’d spotted one or two of the most obvious carved stones built into the external fabric. However, now knowing how much was on the external walls, we went round the outside again and spotted so much more.
Beetor Cross
Trip No.129 Entry No.3 Date Added: 22nd May 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 10th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5
Beetor Cross submitted by Anne T on 22nd May 2019. Getting closer, this cross with its very narrow head and arms rises high out of the bank above you. Historic England says: "The primitive style of this cross, with its short head and arms, makes it a candidate for being a Christianised prehistoric standing stone".
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Log Text: Beetor Wayside Cross, North Bovey: Our first trip out on the evening we arrived in Devon and having unpacked our things at the barn. This cross was less than a mile from the barn we were staying in.
I was really confused when I read the entries for this cross at first, not realising that it had been moved from its original spot just round the corner, opposite a crossroads. That original spot is now marked by a boundary marker.
This cross is very overgrown with ivy. It is in part of a private garden, used as part playground, part rubbish dump, but with no-one around, we opened the gate to see if there was a better view of the cross from the side opposite the road, but in fact because the cross was at the top of the bank and there was so much shrubbery around it, the view was worse.
Having worked out the original location of the cross and the significance of the nearby boundary marker, we made the boundary marker our first stop the next morning.
Hele Cross
Trip No.129 Entry No.4 Date Added: 23rd May 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 10th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5
Hele Cross submitted by Anne T on 23rd May 2019. Standing 'behind' the cross on the farm track, putting the location of the cross into its context with the cross roads and the farm buildings opposite. We did look for remnants of the old chapel which once stood here/near here, thinking perhaps the farm buildings might have incorporated part of it into the current structure, but as Pastcape says, there are no signs (that we could see).
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Log Text: Hele Cross, Devon: This cross is not far from the Beetor Cross – some 850m to the east, measured from UK Grid Reference Finder. The lane was narrow and a little windy, but a good introduction to the driving around this part of the world. There were few places to park, so we bumped up on the verge next to the farm, at about SX 72084 84153, where they had already parked one of their vehicles.
This area was heavily shaded by trees, with a (narrower) lane running east from the cross (eventually joining up with Yard Hill), and to the south a drop down to a stream.
The cross was again raised up above the road and was clearly visible once we’d walked onto the road junction. A tractor track up to a field gate allowed us to walk up ‘behind’ the cross and take photos. The socket stone was completely covered in ivy and brambles, so we didn’t really see this at all. (Later research using Crossing's Ancient Stone Crosses of Dartmoor (1902) says the chapel was by the stream).
North Bovey
Trip No.129 Entry No.5 Date Added: 23rd May 2019
Site Type: Ancient Cross
Country: England (Devon)
Visited: Yes on 10th May 2019. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5
North Bovey submitted by Anne T on 23rd May 2019. Standing just to the north east of the cross, on the green, looking across at Stone Cross Cottage and the other thatched cottages which abut the churchyard. I managed to get this photo, taken in the few minutes between one car left and another parked up, on 11th May, the day after our original visit.
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Log Text: North Bovey Wayside Cross: We’d booked into the local hostelry, The Ring O Bells, for supper, but arrived a little early. As well as seeing the cross on the village green, we wanted to see the local church, St John The Baptist. However, the church (given the time of the evening!) was firmly locked.
I was somewhat dismayed to find how close all the cars parked to the cross on the village green, but then there is so little parking in the village with narrow lanes and a small public car park, that I guess this is the easiest option for residents and visitors alike.
The different socket stone and shaft are clear, as is in the inserted piece of granite at the base of the shaft, inserted after the cross was knocked down by a vehicle in 1951 to help it fit the base better.
I almost had to sit on the bonnet of the car next to the cross to get a decent photo of the ‘front’ of the grass, facing back across the village green. On the green there is also a village pump, which attracted the numerous children playing on the green.