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<< Our Photo Pages >> St Luke's Church (Townhead) - Ancient Cross in England in Cumbria

Submitted by Anne T on Saturday, 10 February 2018  Page Views: 1385

Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: St Luke's Church (Townhead) Alternative Name: St Luke's Church (Ousby)
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 4.114 km away from the location you searched for.

County: Cumbria Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Penrith  Nearest Village: Ousby
Map Ref: NY6317734328
Latitude: 54.702620N  Longitude: 2.57293W
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
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Anne T visited on 9th Feb 2018 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Ancient cross, St. Luke's Church, Townhead, near Ousby. OK, so the weather was supposed to be better the further west we went, so we took the option of travelling to this site via Alston and the high moors. A bit of a mistake, as there was much more snow here than at home, but it was lovely, if a bit of a slow drive. The roads within Ousby village were quite complex for such a small village, and we managed twice to take the wrong turn, but finally ended up at this very small hamlet. Parking is available just to the west of the church, where the road widens, although walking to the gate of the church was tricky as it was quite a busy road, with farm traffic and lorries (considering the road is a dead end, I wondered where the traffic went). No-one had been in the churchyard since the snow had fallen, so we picked our way up to the north door. The church is relatively plain inside, until you walk up to the chancel, where there is the most fantastic carved effigy, made out of wood and now encased in a glass/plastic case to preserve it. Half of this has broken off, but I was glad we'd gone inside the church to see this. There was no church guide, or any notes for visitors, and I haven't been able to find out much about this since. The cross base and remnant of cross shaft are to the south of the nave/chancel, almost on top of a tall, red sandstone grave stone. We could see no markings or carvings on the cross shaft or base, apart from a shallow carved cross on top of the shaft, with small 'cups' as terminals. The snowy hills in the background made this quite an atmospheric place.

St Luke's Church (Townhead)
St Luke's Church (Townhead) submitted by Anne T : The cross sits right next to a tall sandstone grave stone, immediately south of the junction of the nave and the chancel. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Cross in Cumbria

This old cross base, with a 3ft fragment of rectangular cross shaft, is located to the south of the chancel in the churchyard.

There is no mention of the cross base in Pastscape, but there is brief reference to it on The Cumbria Gazetteer, which simply describes this as a cubic sandstone cross base, with c3ft of shaft in situ within the socket.

There appear to be no markings or carvings on any of the sides of the cross shaft or base (or they are too weathered to be visible), but on the top of the cross shaft there is a shallow carved cross, each end with a small 'cup' as a terminal.

For anyone interested in effigies, there is an unusual 14th century carving of a knight in the northern side of the chancel - apparently made out of one tree trunk. Half of it has fallen off, and its now preserved in a case, but it is well worth seeing.
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St Luke's Church (Townhead)
St Luke's Church (Townhead) submitted by Anne T : On the top of the cross shaft, a shallow cross has been carved, with a small 'cup' at each terminal. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Luke's Church (Townhead)
St Luke's Church (Townhead) submitted by Anne T : Standing just to the south west of the cross base and shaft, looking at the southern wall of the church. No carvings are evident on this side of the base or cross shaft, although there is a large depression towards the top of the cross shaft, which looks like it has been damaged at some point. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Luke's Church (Townhead)
St Luke's Church (Townhead) submitted by Anne T : The northern side of the cross base and shaft fragment. Any carvings on it are too heavily weathered to make out. (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
NY6334 : St Luke's Church, Ousby by Karl and Ali
by Karl and Ali
©2012(licence)
NY6334 : St. Luke's Church at Ousby by Trevor Littlewood
by Trevor Littlewood
©2017(licence)
NY6334 : Ousby - St Luke's Church by Colin Park
by Colin Park
©2023(licence)
NY6334 : St Luke's, Ousby Townhead, Westmorland by Simon Ledingham
by Simon Ledingham
©2006(licence)
NY6334 : St Luke's, Ousby Townhead, Westmorland by Simon Ledingham
by Simon Ledingham
©2006(licence)

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