<< Our Photo Pages >> Rothley Cross - Ancient Cross in England in Leicestershire and Rutland
Submitted by Thorgrim on Wednesday, 20 April 2005 Page Views: 6737
Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: Rothley CrossCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 1.486 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Leicestershire and Rutland Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Leicester Nearest Village: Rothley
Map Ref: SK5861312637
Latitude: 52.708234N Longitude: 1.133909W
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 Mar 2019 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 4 Access: 4 The Rothley Cross, Leicestershire: The church is usually kept locked, but we had arranged to pick up a key from the Parish Office mid-afternoon. However, calling at the office, there was no reply. Walking back to the church, I spoke to a lady who had been busy clearing the churchyard of broken branches, and she told us the administrator had gone home ill. However, fortuitously, she had a key to the vestry and very kindly let us in.
The church has a long history, and has some amazing grave slabs and a Norman font. The bases of the pillars are said to date to the original Norman church. We found a cross scratched into one of the pillars.
The Rothley Cross is to be found to the south east of the church, near some tall yew trees. At the time of our visit, the cross was in deep shade, although the worn carving was still visible.
We also spotted an unsual carved mark - much more ornate than a mason's mark on the external western jamb of the vestry door.
Anglo-Saxon cross of the 9th century.
This Mercian cross is scheduled as Historic England List ID 1014511. Historic England tells us: "The cross to the south of St Mary and St John's Church is a rare example of a standing cross of the pre-Viking period; it is one of one two near complete examples in the East Midlands ... situated to the south of the church on a slight mound, it is considered to stand in its original location ... the modern repairs to the shaft illustrate the continued use of the cross as a public monument and amenity from at least the mid-ninth century to the present day".
Historic England also tells us the cross stands on a slight mound and comprises a socket stone, a Millstone Grit shaft which has been broken into four pieces and subsequently reassembled, and was originally a monolith. The "earthen mound ... has a diameter of 3.9m and rises to 0.6m high at the centre, within which the socket stone is partly buried. Set into the socket stone is the stone shaft, of tapering rectangular section, which measures 0.53m north-south and 0.42m west-east at its base and stands to a height of 3.7m. Each face of the shaft is divided by doubled mouldings into four ornamental panels".
The cross is also recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 317180 which adds the joint between the shaft and the socket stone has been remade in lead.
The church of St Mary and St John The Baptist is recorded separately, and has some interesting grave slabs, a Norman font and a large, angled squint. See Pastscape Monument No. 317251 and Historic England List ID 1230285. An Antiquarian paper by T.E. Routh is available in pdf format from the University of Leicester website - see The Rothley Cross Shaft and the Sproxton Cross.
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