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<< Our Photo Pages >> St Michael (Cropthorne) - Ancient Cross in England in Worcestershire

Submitted by Sunny100 on Monday, 13 August 2018  Page Views: 8315

Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: St Michael (Cropthorne)
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 3.916 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Worcestershire Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Cropthorne
Map Ref: SP00014512
Latitude: 52.104413N  Longitude: 2.001268W
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.
 4 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.
 4 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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St Michael (Cropthorne)
St Michael (Cropthorne) submitted by HarryTwenty : View of the cross in its protective case. (Vote or comment on this photo)
The Anglo-Saxon, sculptured cross-head in St Michael's Church, Cropthorne, Worcestershire. It dates from 800 AD and has ornate decoration including interlacing, a griffin, birds and foliage. Today the cross-head is protected by a glass case. It may commemorate king Offa of Mercia who stayed here. He died in 796 AD.

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St Michael (Cropthorne)
St Michael (Cropthorne) submitted by HarryTwenty : Church information sheet giving the history of the church. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Michael (Cropthorne)
St Michael (Cropthorne) submitted by HarryTwenty : Detail of the pattern on the edges of the cross. Great workmanship, it's a real shame that the Saxons never left more stone work behind, they were excellent craftsmen. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Michael (Cropthorne)
St Michael (Cropthorne) submitted by HarryTwenty : Back of the cross. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Michael (Cropthorne)
St Michael (Cropthorne) submitted by HarryTwenty : Date of the cross. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Michael (Cropthorne)
St Michael (Cropthorne) submitted by HarryTwenty : According to the church information sheet the cross dates from around 800AD and was originally found embedded in the south wall of the sanctuary. (Vote or comment on this photo)

St Michael (Cropthorne)
St Michael (Cropthorne) submitted by HarryTwenty : Detail of the pattern on the edges of the cross. Great workmanship, it's a real shame that the Saxons never left more stone work behind, they were excellent craftsmen.

St Michael (Cropthorne)
St Michael (Cropthorne) submitted by HarryTwenty : Back of the cross.

St Michael (Cropthorne)
St Michael (Cropthorne) submitted by HarryTwenty : Date of the cross.

St Michael (Cropthorne)
St Michael (Cropthorne) submitted by Sunny100 : The Anglo-Saxon, sculptured cross-head in St Michael's church. It dates from 800 CE and has ornate decoration including interlacing, a griffin, birds and foliage. Today the cross-head is protected by a glass case. It may commemorate king Offa of Mercia who stayed here. He died in 796 CE.

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 2.5km W 274° Wick B Cursus Cursus (SO975453)
 3.6km WNW 295° Wick A Cursus Cursus (SO96704665)
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 14.5km SW 236° Towbury Camp* Hillfort (SO88003695)
 14.5km SE 126° The Harford Member* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SP118366)
 14.8km ESE 115° Kiftsgate Stone* Holed Stone (SP13503898)
 14.9km SE 142° Snowshill* Round Barrow(s) (SP09153335)
 15.7km WNW 285° Kempsey Cross* Ancient Cross (SO8482149096)
 15.8km S 186° Odo and Dodo* Standing Stones (SO98402935)
 16.0km SSE 159° Hailes Wood Earthworks Misc. Earthwork (SP05663009)
 16.2km NW 316° Warndon Cross* Ancient Cross (SO8878256887)
 16.3km NW 324° Tibberton Cursus Cursus (SO90335831)
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"St Michael (Cropthorne)" | Login/Create an Account | 7 News and Comments
  
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Re: St Michael (Cropthorne) by Sunny100 on Monday, 03 September 2018
(User Info | Send a Message)
Ancient churches can sometimes be built upon Roman sites, but not so much on Iron Age sites. This is just my opinion.
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: St Michael (Cropthorne) by Hatty on Monday, 03 September 2018
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    Christianity was introduced in Roman times so you're right to point this out. It may turn out that so-called Anglo-Saxon churches "rebuilt using Roman stone" are in fact Roman churches rebuilt in Norman times. In other cases archaeologists say a 12th C church is built on top of a Roman temple dedicated to, say, Aesclepius rather than your actual church though the difference between Roman gods and Christian saints isn't always obvious.
    [ Reply to This ]

Re: St Michael (Cropthorne) by Hatty on Sunday, 02 September 2018
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Thanks for posting the link for your source, HarryTwenty, and you're right that the usual sites describe the cross as C9, though the inscriptions could just as easily be a 19th C. 'restoration'. It surely doesn't seem plausible that a C9 cross would feature in a church that was built 400+ years later.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: St Michael (Cropthorne) by Hatty on Saturday, 01 September 2018
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St Michael's church is 12th century. There is no claim for any earlier church as is often the case. What's the evidence for baldly stating the cross "dates from around 800 AD", in contrast to its surroundings?
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: St Michael (Cropthorne) by HarryTwenty on Sunday, 02 September 2018
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    Plenty of sources about the date of the cross, all of them give the same date c. 9th century. This is just one of them: https://www.worcesteranddudleyhistoricchurches.org.uk/index.php?page=cropthorne
    If you don't agree you need to take it up with the church authorities, the date is given on their information sheet. How the cross ended up there is not explained.
    The evidence for 'baldly stating' the cross "dates from around 800 AD" is given in the photos, it comes from the church, not too hard to follow.
    And surely you mean 'boldly'? What evidence do you have that I am bald?
    Over to you...
    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: St Michael (Cropthorne) by Arjessa on Sunday, 02 September 2018
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    With many churches, including my own local village church, they were sited on top of previous burial/religious grounds. At our local church, they have discovered artifacts from Roman and Iron Age burials, therefore the dating of anything in the churchyard according to the date of the present church building would be totally incorrect. Often too, the evidence can not only lie below the ground but the cross may have been moved from elsewhere when religions 'changed'; to have it sited on hallowed ground perhaps. The cross would have been dated according to other similar crosses plus wear and erosion.
    [ Reply to This ]
      Re: St Michael (Cropthorne) by Hatty on Sunday, 02 September 2018
      (User Info | Send a Message)
      It's quite usual for a church to be built on a Roman or Iron Age site. The evidence below ground, the foundations, is testament. Problems arise with artefacts above ground that are apparently displaced and seem to be from a completely different era.

      The method used to date the cross seems to be stylistic, an inevitably subjective process. It is impossible to date inscriptions accurately after even a century or two of weathering.
      [ Reply to This ]

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