<< Our Photo Pages >> Wulfhere's Cross - Ancient Cross in England in Yorkshire (North)
Submitted by Sunny100 on Wednesday, 26 May 2010 Page Views: 3939
Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: Wulfhere's Cross Alternative Name: The Addingham Cross; St Peter's (Addingham)Country: England
NOTE: This site is 0.959 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Yorkshire (North) Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Ilkley Nearest Village: Addingham
Map Ref: SE085497
Latitude: 53.943341N Longitude: 1.871994W
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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Anne T visited on 17th Apr 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Wulfhere's Cross, Addingham, West Yorkshire: After a busy day with an early start and a disappointment getting to rock art sites on Ilkley Moor, this was a great end to a long day.
St. Paul’s is in the prettiest little spot in the small village of Addingham down by the River Wharfe and is in a historically interesting spot. Driving over a small bridge, the lane to the church leads across a field which clearly holds the remains of two fish ponds belonging to the old manor house which used to sit on this site.
We parked near the gate to the church yard in the car park by the church hall. Being 17:40 we weren’t sure if we could get into the church, but the door was open (note: on leaving the church, the door locked behind us and we were unable to get back in – the door must be on an electronic timer which triggers about 18:00 or at dusk). The porch was very dark (the lights didn’t seem to operate in this part of the church) and I cautiously made sure we were able to get back out again!
This building is clearly very ancient – the roof timbers are very old, the church information sheet saying they date from the 1520s or 1530s.
The Anglo Saxon cross sits at the entrance to a side chapel on the south eastern side of the church. Nothing in the church records refer to it as “Wulfhere’s Cross” although it’s named after the Archbishop of York, Wulfhere, who had a residence here at the time the Vikings raided York in AD867. Next to the cross there is a notice on the wall: “Fragment of an Anglo-Saxon Cross: This fragment of the shaft of an Anglo-Saxon cross was uncovered in the churchyard in 1947 during the digging of a trench. The fragment has been examined by experts in Anglo-Saxon sculpture who have dated it to the 10th century and almost certainly prior to 972. The scene on the front is, according to the experts, a representation of the apocalypse. Both sides have scroll carvings. The back is very worn but it is possible to make out carvings which could be vine scrolls. In the churchyard is a cross base dating from the same period.”
Standing by the cross and turning to face the southern wall, I was immediately hit by the size of the internal wall – huge. There was also the fragment of an Anglo-Saxon bone ornament (a comb?) kept in a glass topped case in the book case at the north-west corner of the church. This was almost impossible to photograph because of the light and reflections in the glass (or at least by me at the time!).
The old door to the bell tower in the western wall of the porch was really old and interesting.
Going back to the car I noticed some modern day carving in the wall of the church hall, together with a modern cross shaft.
We didn't look for the cross base in the church yard as it was deep in grass and daffodils and I didn't want to tread these flowers down in my search.
Ancient Cross in N.Yorkshire at SE.085497. Wulfhere's Cross in the SE corner of St Peter's churchyard at Addingham, 3 miles NW of Ilkley, dates from the 9th to 11th century. It is always described as being of Saxon origins, but some of the carvings could have Viking undertones.
The cross was found in 1948 and, according to the legend, set-up to commemorate the arrival of Archbishop Wulfhere to the area in 867 AD. He sought refuge in Wharfedale when the Danes captured York and were about to take a large part of northern England. The cross has spirals or swirls, a pair of chains, a cross within a circle and two odd looking figures. Along the edges there is cordwork interlacing.
I believe that originally the cross was taller than at present, thus leading me to think this is, in fact, only the base. St Peter's church dates from the 15th century, but it is worth having a look round when it is open. The site dates back to the 7th century and there are traces of an Iron Age ditch.
Note: Note: Rich32 has created digital scale recreations of the Anglo Saxon cross currently residing in St Peter's Church and a stone that is thought by some to be its socket in the grave yard. It fits but it's a bit loose so the theory is not proven. More details in the comments
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