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Anne T visited on 23rd Apr 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Ryton Motte, Gateshead: Parking on the main road opposite The Old Cross pub and Holy Cross church on Barnmoor Lane, as there was an event on at the church, the first surprise was to see the old cross located on the village green. Pastscape reveals this is relatively modern, having been erected in 1765, but the base looks much, much older. Historic England say in list entry 1018642 that there was evidence of an earlier cross on this site. A stream of very well dressed people were exiting the church yard, indicating a service had just finished. I spent a few minutes photographing the cross, then we sauntered in the churchyard. The name board on the gate to the churchyard says that the church was founded in 1220, and whilst there appears to be old stones in the fabric of the church, popping our head into the church itself, it looks very Victorian. There were people inside, so we didn’t linger. Walking round the tower at the west end of the church, and round to the north wall, we came across a man digging up brambles and dock plants around the graves. He told us he wasn’t’ associated with the church, but had got fed up of the graveyard looking as it did. He also said he’d just removed shrubbery and brambles off the motte, which looked bare and brown in the warm sunlight. He also told us to look out for the grave of a woman to the north-west of the motte, which had inscribed on the headstone about the grave also containing her husband, who’d lost his arm at Trafalgar. The motte is certainly a significant structure (I thought it was only small, but it’s not, measuring 3.30 metres with a diameter of 30 metres, according to Pastscape. The mound certainly appears much higher when viewed from the river side, where it looms high above you. These days, the river is largely hidden by trees, but glimpses of silver water appear as you follow the path round the motte and back up to the east side of the church. It would have had a very commanding spot above the river when it was built.

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