<< Our Photo Pages >> Irton Cross - Ancient Cross in England in Cumbria
Submitted by Thorgrim on Saturday, 27 March 2004 Page Views: 10841
Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: Irton CrossCountry: England County: Cumbria Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Egremont Nearest Village: Drigg
Map Ref: NY0916000455 Landranger Map Number: 89
Latitude: 54.391440N Longitude: 3.400489W
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 24th Oct 2014 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5 Ancient cross shaft, head and base, St Paul’s, Irto, Cumbria: This cross, apart from the Gosforth Cross, is perhaps the most complete of all those we saw during our day in this part of Cumbria. From the Ordnance Survey map, we weren’t sure if we could drive most of the way, or if we needed to walk some distance along a footpath, but with a school and a church marked in close proximity, we decided to drive as far as we could. From Gosforth, we drove down the A595 through Holmrook, then took a left hand turn onto a minor road, past Gubbergill. A left hand turn is signposted towards ‘church’ and we drove down a single lane road past what had been a school, then through the narrow stone gates to the church, where after a couple of hundred yards, the lane widens out into a reasonably large car park. As we came closer to the church, there were surprisingly spectacular views over Lake District, which loomed impressively gray and large in the near distance.
St. Paul’s church is surprisingly large for its remote location, and obviously well used.
We found this complete cross shaft, head and base in the churchyard south of the church rising high above us. Dating from the first half of the 9th century, the head is edged by fine double roll mouldings. I was fascinated by the head of the cross, which on its west face has a cabled circle enclosing five pellets arranged in a cruciform pattern.
The cross shaft, head and base are referenced as Irton 01. The ASCorpus notes told me that Irton 02, a 10th century cross head, is actually at Muncaster in the churchyard of St. Michael’s and All Angels, cemented onto a plinth in front of Muncaster 01.
Pevsner declares that this is one of the most important crosses in Cumbria, and unlike the one at Gosforth, bears no figures either human or animal. It contains vine scrolls and rosettes of Irish origin.
This cross is also scheduled as Historic England List ID 1012642 and included in the entry for the Church of St Paul in Pastscape Monument No. 8707. Pastscape describes the cross as being Anglian, re-sandstone, probably 10th century in date, over 3m high and in excellent condition.
The Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculpture also includes an entry for this cross, recorded as Irton 01. The Corpus entry includes a detailed description and discussion, dating the cross to the first half of the ninth century from the style of the carvings.
The Journal of Antiquities also includes a page for this cross - see their entry for Irton High Cross, Eskdale, Cumbria. The Journal also includes a list of reference sources and a list of related websites for more information.
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