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<< Our Photo Pages >> Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard - Ancient Cross in England in Lancashire

Submitted by LivingRocks on Monday, 18 April 2005  Page Views: 13447

Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard
Country: England County: Lancashire Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Lancaster  Nearest Village: Halton
Map Ref: SD49916469
Latitude: 54.075687N  Longitude: 2.767021W
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
3 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.
5 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
4

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Anne T visited on 4th Jun 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 5 Ancient Cross, St. Wilfrid's, Halton: From St. Margaret’s in Horby, we followed the busy A683, turning off onto the road to Halton just south of Caton. Although only a side road, this road seemed busier than the main road. This must be one of the most dangerous sites I’ve visited. The church is located on a bend on this busy, busy road and the gate into the church is less than a foot from the edge of the road with no pavement, and it’s quite stiff to open – nearly got run over trying to get into the church and had to be very careful exiting, as you couldn’t see what was coming round the bend to the right. The church looks more like a house with a stone tower, and unfortunately was locked, which was a shame, because the Pastscape record tells us there are pieces of 5 Anglo Saxon stones built into the interior of the tower. According to the Pastscape record 41153, the pre-Norman cross (restored in 1890) tells the story of the Sigurd legend (which I’ll need to find out about), although to my eye not all the pieces matched and must be several crosses amalgamated together. A bit of a disappointment really.

Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard
Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard submitted by LivingRocks : The partially restored high cross in St Wilfrid's Churchyard. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ancient Cross in Lancashire

A partly restored decorated pre-Norman high cross constructed of local sandstone and located in the churchyard to the south of St Wilfrid's Church, Halton.

It consists of a shaft, a stone base or socle, and a cross head. The stone base is three-stepped and measures 1.5m by 1.4m at the base. The height of the cross from the bottom of the shaft to the top of the cross head is 3.6m, making an overall height of 4.5m.

The shaft is of rectangular cross section and comprises four pieces, three of which are original and one of which is a relatively modern addition inserted between the original fragments during reconstruction of the cross after damage in order to give an impression of the original height.

The decoration on the shaft is of 11th century date; at the base are scenes from the Sigurd legend, an Anglicized and Christianized version of the story of St George slaying the dragon. At the top of the shaft there are emblems of the four Evangelists, St Matthew, St Mark, St Luke and St John, and below this are parts of four arched panels containing figures, but this part of the cross has been broken and lost. The cross head has four arms of which only the carved upper arm is original. (Description from DEFRA)
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Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard
Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard submitted by Graham1950 : Carved stones set in the church porch wall. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard
Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard submitted by Graham1950 : "Inside the porch is an old carved stone which seems to have been incorporated in later building work. Looks like shears for trimming trees/shrubs?" (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard
Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard submitted by Anne T : Close up of one of the wider faces of the cross arms, of which only the upper section looks original. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard
Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard submitted by Anne T : The 11th century cross in the churchyard, reconstructed in 1890. It sits on the south side of the chancel, between some tall yew trees. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard
Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard submitted by LivingRocks : Detail of the decoration on the lower part of the shaft. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard
Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard submitted by Graham1950 : Across the road from the church this carving of a face is set into the wall above a doorway. This might very well be a modern carving but interesting nevertheless?

Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard
Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard submitted by Graham1950 : Also in the porch of St Wlifrid's Church are these carved stones set in the eaves. Presumably the mesh is to keep birds at bay.

Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard
Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard submitted by Graham1950 : A couple of days ago I visited St Wilfrid's Churchyard in Halton and came across some old carved stones in or near the churchyard. Although I'd read quite a bit about the Viking cross, I'd also come across references to other old stones. On further online research I've not been able to find out more about those I photographed. Hopefully someone will be able to shed some light?! This stone is u... (6 comments)

Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard
Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard submitted by Anne T : A close up of one of the wider of the cross faces. To my eye, not all the pieces matched and it looked like several crosses which had been amalgamated.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 532m ENE 66° The Lancaster Cross* Ancient Cross (SD504649)
 3.1km NNW 342° Bolton-le-Sands Barrow* Ring Cairn (SD4901467624)
 3.4km NNW 331° Bolton Le Sands Early Christian Sculptured Stone (SD48336765)
 3.5km NNW 332° St Michael's Well (Lancashire) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SD4828567831)
 3.6km SE 129° Askew Heights* Ancient Village or Settlement (SD52726239)
 3.7km SSW 199° Golgotha Lodge (Williamson Park) Cairn (SD48666121)
 3.7km SW 217° Lancaster City Museum* Museum (SD4761161729)
 3.7km SW 221° Lancaster Priory Cross* Ancient Cross (SD474619)
 4.0km W 263° Torrisholme* Round Barrow(s) (SD45966425)
 6.0km N 351° Hunting Hill* Round Barrow(s) (SD49037065)
 6.1km W 272° Fartle Barrow* Cairn (SD4380364966)
 7.4km NNW 346° Cote Stones Cairn (SD482719)
 8.0km N 354° Warton Crag* Hillfort (SD492727)
 8.3km NNW 347° Badger Hole (Lancashire)* Cave or Rock Shelter (SD48187285)
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 8.5km NNW 349° Dog Holes* Cave or Rock Shelter (SD48337303)
 8.5km NNE 16° Manor Farm* Round Barrow(s) (SD52387285)
 8.5km NNW 346° Ings Point Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SD479730)
 8.8km N 357° The Three brothers* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SD495735)
 9.0km NE 54° St John the Evangelist (Gressingham)* Ancient Cross (SD5725069915)
 9.1km WSW 245° Church Well (Heysham) Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SD416609)
 9.3km WSW 250° St Patrick's Well (Heysham)* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SD4108961591)
 9.3km WSW 250° Heysham St Peter's Churchyard* Ancient Cross (SD41066161)
 9.4km ENE 65° St Margaret (Hornby)* Ancient Cross (SD5847068580)
 9.4km WSW 251° Heysham Rock-Cut tombs* Rock Cut Tomb (SD4098461655)
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"Halton St Wilfrid's Churchyard" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
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Video: The Halton Cross, by Roger Lang by Andy B on Tuesday, 25 July 2017
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https://vimeo.com/201941201
References on the link above

Also a 3D model by Roger at
https://sketchfab.com/models/80438c3dbfd14bfb93ea9d73f9171515
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