<< Our Photo Pages >> St Mary's Church (Walton) - Ancient Cross in England in Cumbria
Submitted by Anne T on Tuesday, 22 August 2017 Page Views: 1237
Early Medieval (Dark Age)Site Name: St Mary's Church (Walton)Country: England County: Cumbria Type: Ancient Cross
Nearest Town: Brampton Nearest Village: Walton
Map Ref: NY5220864492
Latitude: 54.972738N Longitude: 2.748128W
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 20th Aug 2017 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 Access: 5 St. Mary's, Walton: Went to see a cross head, but found an 11th century market cross instead! This is a very pretty little village, and was on our way back to Stapleton to try to find the Bride’s Well (ran out of time last Thursday). We parked opposite the church on the side of the village green and walked across to the church, letting ourselves in through the rather rusty gate (it took us ages to work out how to open it). I excitedly followed my husband into the church but stopped dead as there was no sign of the cross head at all.
We hunted under pews, up and down the aisles, on window ledges, around the font, inside a chest, and all the places we could think of. The only sign of the cross was a photograph and a brief description on the display boards against the north western wall of the nave, which showed it displayed on top of the font cover. (I’ve since sent an email to the vicar to enquire where it might be located or moved to, but not had a reply yet).
We did however, see a paragraph on the display boards headed AD850 to 1066: “During the latter part of the 9th century to the middle of the 11th century, Walton, as a community, developed. The evidence for this is shown by the relics found in or around the present church. Between the years of 850 to 950, a preaching cross was erected and similarly between 1000 and 1050, a market cross was probably erected.” There is an image of the remains of the market cross in the churchyard. We then went to find this, disappointed not to have found the cross head, but pleased there was something of antiquity to have made this detour worthwhile.
We went to St. Mary's in Walton because we understood there was the remains of a sandstone cross-head. This was described by Pastscape as "The greater part of a late Anglian cross-head of St Bees sandstone, 12" high and 12" in breadth, with the lower arm and part of the upper arm missing. The front bears a small boss, and both faces are ornamented with crude rustication. It was found in digging a grave in the south-west of Walton churchyard, at NY 526646, and is now in the church. Dated to the 9th-10th century." For more information see Pastscape Monument No. 12787 (for information on the church see Monument No. 12866, which is a 'related monument' on the cross head record).
The Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculpture dates the cross head as being 10th the 11th century - see ASCORPUS 167 Walton. Both Pastscape and The Anglo Saxon Corpus say the cross head is displayed on the font inside the church.
Despite quite an intensive search, we were unable to find the cross head (I've since sent an email to the vicar to try to locate it), but the display boards showed photographs of both the cross head and a market cross, dated to between 1000 and 1050, located not far from the west wall, by the right hand side of the path as you approach the church.
There are other old grave markers propped at various intervals around the exterior of the church walls.
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