<< Our Photo Pages >> Wishing Chair Cross - Ancient Cross in England in Yorkshire (North)
Submitted by johndhunter on Saturday, 18 January 2020 Page Views: 1208
Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: Wishing Chair CrossCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 0.525 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Yorkshire (North) Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Whitby
Map Ref: NZ8849010975
Latitude: 54.486410N Longitude: 0.635565W
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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cactus_chris visited on 26th Oct 2021 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5
Located on the southern side of the junction of Stakesby Road and Love Lane in what is now the western outskirts of Whitby. Originally a mediaeval mile cross whose original name is unknown, it marked the approach to Whitby Abbey. All that remains today is the mediaeval base with a socket cut into it whose south east* lip has broken away so that it looks like a small chair. There is an old black and white photo of this cross in T.H.Woodwards 1934 book “The Crosses of the North York Moors” page 15 and what appears to be the broken lip lying in front of it, though where it has broken from looks well worn. Also whilst today it is has a pavement built around it, at that time it was on a grass verge beside what appears to be a fairly narrow lane rather than a road as such. The name Wishing Chair Cross first appears on the 1927 OS map, earlier OS maps just refer to it as a Stone Cross (Base of or Pedestal)
Local tradition says that for those children who are small enough to fit in this chair and haven’t been naughty any wish they make will come true – hence its name.
*Both Pastscape and Historic England have more information on this cross at Monument 29467 and List Entry 1009851 respectively, however both say that it is the northern edge (lip) of the base that is missing, this is incorrect it is the south east edge (lip).
Note: On the north east side of the junction there is a modern cross erected in 1957 to commemorate the Festival of Britain, this information is written on the right hand side of the shaft. On the left hand side of the shaft it says “Restoration of a mile cross of Whitby Abbey”. This cross also defines the bounds of the Abbey. However looking at old OS maps I can see no evidence that there was ever an earlier cross at this location, the maps only indicate the location of the Wishing Chair Cross.
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