Featured: How and why the ancients enchanted Great Britain and Brittany

How and why the ancients enchanted Great Britain and Brittany

Random Image

Inscribed Across the Landscape: The Cursus Monuments of Great Britain

Inscribed Across the Landscape: The Cursus Monuments of Great Britain

Who's Online

There are currently, 353 guests and 2 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< Our Photo Pages >> St Bartholomew (Sproxton) - Ancient Cross in England in Leicestershire and Rutland

Submitted by TimPrevett on Monday, 21 May 2007  Page Views: 6253

Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: St Bartholomew (Sproxton) Alternative Name: Sproxton Cross
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 4.692 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Leicestershire and Rutland Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Melton Mowbray  Nearest Village: Sproxton
Map Ref: SK8566624904
Latitude: 52.814882N  Longitude: 0.730387W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
no data Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
no data Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
no data Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5
Be the first person to rate this site - see the 'Contribute!' box in the right hand menu.

Internal Links:
External Links:

I have visited· I would like to visit

Anne T visited on 17th Mar 2019 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Sproxton Cross, St Bartholomew's Church: This church was a little way out of the village and we parked in a small metalled area next to a 'gallop' at SK 85667 24972 and braved the wind to walk back down the road to the gate into the churchyard. The vicar had previously told us the cross had been moved inside the church, but looking after 11 churches in total, he must have been confused, because as soon as we rounded the west end of the church to reach the entrance through the south porch, the cross came into sight. What is inside the church is an 11th century cross slab/grave marker. This is a very quiet spot, apart from the occasional car that came hurtling past. The inside of the church appears relatively modern, but has some really interesting corbels. We also found a portion of carving, either part of a fluted column, or cemented to it, next to the north western side of the door into the tower. We did have a good scout around for the shaped stone in the south western wall mentioned by The Journal of Antiquities, but were unable to find it. In the field to the south of the church is a well, but could find no mention of this on Pastscape or Historic England.

St Bartholomew (Sproxton)
St Bartholomew (Sproxton) submitted by Anne T : Anglo Scandinavian Cross in Leicestershire and Rutland England. Getting closer to the cross, which was deep in shadow at the time of our visit. The Jellinge beast and interlace pattern, together with the 'collar' round the middle of the cross shaft, can be clearly seen thanks to the strong sunlight. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Cross in Leicestershire and Rutland

A complete Anglo Scandinavian Cross in St Bartholomew's Churchyard, Sproxton, Leics. This cross is scheduled as Historic England List ID 1014512 and recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 1053755. Pastscape tells us: "The cross is probably 10th to early 11th century in date and takes the form of a base, comprising a stone slab and a socket stone, and a shaft and cross head". Historic England places the cross approximately 7m to the south east of the south porch.

The Journal of Antiquities also includes an entry for this cross - see their page for The Sproxton Cross, Leicestershire, which gives directions for finding the cross together with a drawing of the sides and base of the cross by John Nicols (1794). The Journal also includes reference sources and adds: " In the south-west wall there is an interesting stone with zig-zag moulding. This is thought to date from the 11th-12th century".
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.


St Bartholomew (Sproxton)
St Bartholomew (Sproxton) submitted by Anne T : Anglo Scandinavian Cross in Leicestershire and Rutland England. This is some of the detailed work on the northern, narrow, face of the cross. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Bartholomew (Sproxton)
St Bartholomew (Sproxton) submitted by Anne T : Anglo Scandinavian Cross in Leicestershire and Rutland England. First view of the Sproxton Cross, seen as we rounded the corner of the western end of the church to get to the entrance in the south porch. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Bartholomew (Sproxton)
St Bartholomew (Sproxton) submitted by Anne T : Site in Leicestershire and Rutland England. This carved stone can be found in the church, next to the door into the bottom of the bell tower. This smaller portion appears to be either part of, or is cemented to, a portion of fluted pillar below. No mention of it on HE or Pastscape, and no notes in the church about it. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Bartholomew (Sproxton)
St Bartholomew (Sproxton) submitted by Anne T : Anglo Scandinavian Cross in Leicestershire and Rutland England. The cross as seen from the churchyard wall from just to its south west, looking back towards the eastern end of the nave in the background. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Bartholomew (Sproxton)
St Bartholomew (Sproxton) submitted by Anne T : Anglo Scandinavian Cross in Leicestershire and Rutland England. The head of the cross as seen from its eastern side.

St Bartholomew (Sproxton)
St Bartholomew (Sproxton) submitted by Anne T : Anglo Scandinavian Cross in Leicestershire and Rutland England. This is the western head of the cross, which is slightly lopsided. A paper by T.E. Routh entitled "The Rothley Cross Shaft and the Sproxton Cross" (undated) says: "... which is probably due to the carver's having to make the best of defective material, not being able to get a better stone".

St Bartholomew (Sproxton)
St Bartholomew (Sproxton) submitted by Anne T : Anglo Scandinavian Cross in Leicestershire and Rutland England. Standing just to the south east of the cross, looking back at the south porch. Photo shows the worn eastern, wider face of the cross, and the narrow, southern face. About half way up there is the remains of a very worn 'collar' around the cross shaft.

St Bartholomew (Sproxton)
St Bartholomew (Sproxton) submitted by Anne T : 12th century grave marker with daisy wheel or hexfoil, in Leicestershire and Rutland England. This stone was found in 2017 when excavating a drain near the church. A senior lecturer at York University has written that the style dates it from AD1100 to AD1500. Just about visible on the left hand side of the photo is a daisy wheel or hexfoil, a ritual sign for protection from evil.

St Bartholomew (Sproxton)
St Bartholomew (Sproxton) submitted by Anne T : Anglo Scandinavian Cross in Leicestershire and Rutland England. The Jellinge beast above an interlaced pattern, at the bottom of the western, wider, face of the Sproxton Cross.

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Click here to see more info for this site

Nearby sites

Click here to view sites on an interactive OS map

Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)

To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.


Turn off the page maps and other distractions

Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 3.2km NNE 20° King Lud’s Intrenchments Misc. Earthwork (SK867279)
 4.0km ENE 78° Fish Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SK89602578)
 7.1km NNW 346° St Michael and All Angels (Harston)* Ancient Cross (SK8384031774)
 11.3km S 172° Ashwell Wishing Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SK874137)
 11.5km W 272° Hazeltongue Lodge Henge (SK74092509)
 11.7km SW 229° Burton Lazars Stockwell* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SK770170)
 12.2km NNW 332° St Peter's Church (Redmile)* Early Christian Sculptured Stone (SK7971335528)
 12.3km SSE 148° Greetham* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SK924146)
 12.7km NE 51° Burgh Banks Hillfort (SK955330)
 13.0km W 268° Holwell Mouth* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SK7269324230)
 13.4km W 262° Ab Kettleby* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SK724229)
 13.6km W 281° Long Clawson Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SK722272)
 13.7km S 184° Langham Lodge Long Barrow (SK850112)
 13.8km W 272° Clawson Hose and Harby Cursus Cursus (SK718252)
 14.7km ENE 67° Round Hills Fort* Hillfort (SK992308)
 14.9km NNW 341° Bottesford Cross* Ancient Cross (SK8061638944)
 15.4km N 360° Salt Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SK853403)
 15.4km WSW 256° Saxelbye Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (SK707210)
 15.4km S 178° Our Lady's Well (Oakham)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SK866095)
 15.4km S 177° Oakham Timber Circle Timber Circle (SK867095)
 16.0km WSW 249° All Saints (Asfordby)* Ancient Cross (SK7081218939)
 16.0km WSW 249° Asfordby Cross* Ancient Cross (SK7078419006)
 16.1km SW 217° Burrough-on-the-hill* Hillfort (SK761119)
 16.7km W 276° Woundheal Spring* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SK690264)
 16.9km ESE 123° Holy Well (Careby and Aunby) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (TF00031598)
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< All Saints (Otley)

St Thomas (Brompton) >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

New Book: Heavenly Art - Rock Art in Israel

New Book: Heavenly Art - Rock Art in Israel

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"St Bartholomew (Sproxton)" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Re: St Bartholomew (Sproxton) by Anne T on Tuesday, 19 March 2019
(User Info | Send a Message)
I found an Antiquarian paper about this cross, and the Rothley cross, by T.E. Routh at the University of Leicester website - see The Rothley Cross Shaft and the Sproxton Cross. More at the Sproxton Village website, which includes a history of the village and information about The Viking Cross.
[ Reply to This ]

Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.