Cavers Cross

Trip No.93  Entry No.5  Date Added: 31st Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 29th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Cavers Cross, near Hawick: From the motte, we drove round to Cavers – a very nicely kept estate, with well kept verges and few places to park along the straight, narrow road by the houses. In the end, we pulled right up to the fence at the largish entrance to a field gate at NT 54235 15805, intending to run back to the car if anyone thought we were in the way.

Walking south west towards the houses (I didn’t even recognise the Auld Kirk, as its been converted into a house with large driveway), we couldn’t see anything resembling a cross. There was a lady who was painting her fence and her large dog, who barked at us and sniffed my hands. I asked her if she knew of the remains of the cross, and she said, “Yes, but it’s only small”. She showed us where it was ‘hiding’ – behind a fence and shrubs in deep shade, then behind its own wooden fence, now much broken. She gave us permission to go into the garden of the holiday cottage as there was no-one there at the time of our visit. Whilst the Canmore record mentions the base of the cross (with the metal bands much visible), nothing is mentioned about the shaft it currently holds. This is of red sandstone and shaped, although much moss-covered.

Moving a small bit of stone near the join of the shaft and the base, there is evidence of a straight cut for part of the socket hole. We didn’t’ see any dowel holes, as the surface was moss and twig covered, but then the report that mentions this is dated 1933!

Fast Castle (Bedrule)

Trip No.93  Entry No.4  Date Added: 31st Aug 2018
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 29th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 2 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Fast Castle/Bedrule Motte: Not far from Bedrule Church this motte is marked on the map. At first it just appeared as a mound behind some trees, and we weren’t going to stop, until we realised the tree cover finished and the motte was clearly visible from the track going to Bedrule Mill. We let ourselves in through the gate and stopped to photograph this impressive mound. It sits by a bend in the very pretty river Rule.

Bedrule Parish Church

Trip No.93  Entry No.3  Date Added: 31st Aug 2018
Site Type: Sculptured Stone Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 29th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Hogback fragments, Bedrule Parish Church: (note for less mobile visitors, whilst access into the churchyard is on a tarmacked path, there are some steps up into the porch where these fragments are stored. Disabled access is signposted but the door was locked at the time of our visit). This parish church is in the tiny hamlet of Bedrule. We could see the church from the minor road, but had to go virtually through the village and turn south past a row of small cottages to reach the church. There was a small car park outside the churchyard gates. Rubens Law is to the south and dominates the view, which is rather nice.

The western side of the churchyard is divided into a series of ’garden rooms’, each with a small collection of interesting, old grave slabs, some dating to the 1650s.

The hogback fragments were inside the porch, along with a small stone with recumbent, robed figure. The fragments were underneath the small table with prayer and hymn books, so we moved the table out of the way (and replaced it), to photograph the fragments.

Rubers Law

Trip No.93  Entry No.2  Date Added: 31st Aug 2018
Site Type: Hillfort Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Saw from a distance on 29th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 3

Log Text: Rubers Law (only seen from a distance): This impressive hill fort dominates the area. We decided it was too far and too high to attempt today, although I was fascinated by its changing profile as we drove along the minor roads to Bedrule. We will come back when we're feeling fit and strong - it looks like a long walk, gaining height very quickly over a relatively short distance.

I stopped to take photo from the well house (MP 93.1), then at various points along the route:
1. NT 57304 12321
2. NT 59495 15298 By entrance to track signposted to Rubers Law
3. NT 59965 17983 From Bedrule Parish Church

Hawthornside Farm (Bonchester Bridge)

Trip No.93  Entry No.1  Date Added: 31st Aug 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: Scotland (Scottish Borders)
Visited: Yes on 29th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 5

Log Text: Well/tank, Hawthornside Farm (Bonchester Bridge): We spotted this ‘well house’ purely by chance as we passed by, then needing to turn the car round to go to Bedrule Church with its hogback fragments. This is a lovely site, right by the A6088. The well house (or ‘sink’ as it is labelled on the Canmore map) has Rubers Law Hillfort in the background.

There is no mention of Canmore, apart from the word ‘tank’ on its large scale map. The water appears to come straight up into the well basin – there is no sign of a pipe in or out. It does have the hinges for a (presumably wooden) door, which is no longer there. The water was beautifully clear and the inside of the structure clean.

Todley Hill Mound (Great Whittingham)

Trip No.92  Entry No.2  Date Added: 21st Aug 2018
Site Type: Misc. Earthwork Country: England (Northamptonshire)
Visited: Yes on 21st Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Todley Hill Mound, near Great Whittingham: Walking back to the car, we saw a couple of vans with trailers belonging to the farmers, and I was looking for someone to ask permission to enter the field to see the mound, but whilst the trailer doors were left wide open, no people were visible. There was a gate into the field at NY 99675 71602, almost opposite where we’d parked the car, but there was a stream in the way. We opted to drive further back up the road, and parked at NY 99488 71218, where the road widens out into a large field entrance and dump for roadstone.

The gate into the field had been chained shut, so we walked back down the road and found part of the fence we could hop over.

This is a large mound, in a pretty spot with a small stream to its northern side. There appeared to be a large earth-fast boulder towards its south western side, with smaller boulders surrounding it, but the latter had been broken and were probably field clearance.

Walking round the mound, it appeared to us to have vague traces of a kerb with boulders/stones poking through, mainly on its southern and eastern sides.

This mound/tumulus/barrow is right on the old Roman Road, the Devil’s Causeway, jus to the east of where this cuts the modern road. The vague remains of an edge of this road can be seen (possibly) in the field opposite, to the south of the small stream (or it maybe modern uplift from dredging the stream).

This really had the feel of a barrow to me, and I enjoyed walking round it.

Brandy Well (Great Whittingham)

Trip No.92  Entry No.1  Date Added: 21st Aug 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Northumberland)
Visited: Yes on 21st Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Brandy Well, Todridge Farm, near Great Whittingham: We decided to stop off here on our way to Carlisle to look for this unusually named holy well, near The Queens Arms pub/Chinese restaurant we’ve been to several times. We parked at NY 99652 71590, on the verge before the entrance to Todridge Farm. The farm is more than just a farmhouse and a barn – it’s a hamlet with a number of houses.

Following the track to NY 99143 71795, there is gate into the field on the right hand side (the footpath sign has worn away, it’s just a small white plaque), and we followed this diagonally across the field to the end of the wood, passing a small solar energy ‘farm’ to our right hand side. At about NY 99084 71982 there is a small wooden gate with a footpath sign on it, but this was firmly tied up with a number of ropes (the hinges had broken), so we used the larger gate into the field, and walked a few tens of metres down the slope to the bridge.

On the bridge, you can hear water trickling at the edge of the pool; looking down, there is a dam which lets water out into the stream beyond. Having photographed the well pool from the bridge, we walked up to the land bridge/tractor track at NY 99134 71998 and turned left towards the northern side of the pool. There, in the corner of the fence, we could see the remains of a stone structure, now fallen into what looked like an extension to the pond, where people used to pull water out of.

This is a very pretty spot and a very pretty, if now overgrown, pond, full of waterlilies.

St Mungo's Well (Cumbria)

Trip No.91  Entry No.8  Date Added: 18th Aug 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St Kentigern's Well, Caldbeck: This was our last stop of the day, and to a part of Cumbria we've never travelled through before. From St. Bridget's in Brigham, we followed the B5299 to Caldbeck village, which took us over cattle grids and moorlands, with only sheep and the occasional other car in sight.

Caldbeck is a really pretty little village, and we resolved to come back during the daytime, when the shops, church and café were open.

The well can be easily found by walking down the footpath to the west of the church, until you get to the bridge over the river. As it says in the "Holy Wells of Cumbria" booklet, turn left just before the bridge, and you immediately come to some steps down the (steep-ish) bank to the river. We heard the trickle of water down the slope, and the well basin comes into view as you look down. At the time of our visit the water missed the basin and was trickling down the rock, under the shrubbery, into the river. There was a fair flow of water coming down the bank.

We walked along the footpath along the northern side of the churchyard for about 100mand found a lovely weir with small waterfalls. It was possible to walk down to the gravel beach. A lovely spot indeed.

St Bridget's Church (Brigham)

Trip No.91  Entry No.7  Date Added: 18th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St Bridget's, Brigham (Anglo Saxon Stones): Whilst this church looks very austere from outside, and the entrance doors dark and foreboding, once inside the church, it is a completely different picture – this church is light, airy and welcoming. The painted ceilings are fantastic.

The church warden turned up as arranged, and was so welcoming. He sought out a guide to the church and old postcards for information, then left me photographing the stones whilst Andrew walked round the church with him.

Time was all too short here, and I could have spent another hour, but we knew the church warden needed to get home, and the evening traffic was building up outside. In our haste, we missed Brigham 13, a cross base at the west end of the church (I thought I’d photographed it, as we went through all the AS Corpus pages I’d brought with me, but realised (too late) it wasn’t the correct stone).

After looking at the Fletcher family grave (now very worn and held together with large staples, I walked over to the west end of the churchyard to look at the farmhouse, which used to be the rectory for the farm).

We also looked for the site of Nun's Well, but were unable to see anything.

Chantry Well (Brigham)

Trip No.91  Entry No.6  Date Added: 18th Aug 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition -1 Ambience 2

Log Text: Chantry Well, Brigham (Destroyed) The Reverend Mary told us there was a holy well at Brigham. There are actually 2 listed – Chantry Well and Nun’s Well, next to the A66.

Mr. Furness, the church warden also mentioned the well, but said it was no longer there. In the field opposite the church, a new water pipeline is being constructed. In the field to the south a new housing estate is also being built. There is no access into the field because of the building works, but the grid reference gives a point where the tree line bends.

St Bridget's Church (Bridekirk)

Trip No.91  Entry No.5  Date Added: 18th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: Font with Runic inscription, St. Bridget's, Bridekirk: We had an hour to fill between appointments between churches, so headed off to Bridekirk to see the font with runic inscription, which we'd missed during our last visit on 1st May 2015. The notice said the church was "normally open during daylight hours" but on this occasion the main door appeared to be bolted at the top from the inside, so we couldn't get in. This time, not having a six month old granddaughter with us, we walked round the outside of the church and noticed a collection of old grave slabs displayed against the exterior of the apse at the east end of the church, including an old cross base. None of these in mentioned on Pastscape.

Checking back in my photos, I had taken a photograph of the font. The middle band (when enlarged) does indeed have a runic inscription on it.

St Mungo's Dearham

Trip No.91  Entry No.4  Date Added: 16th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St Mungo's Church, Dearham: AS Corpus Dearham 03 and The Adam Stone: This was a return visit. pre-arranged with the lovely Reverend Mary, who drove from Crosscanonby to very kindly unlock the door of the vestry to show us AS Corpus Dearham 03, part of a cross-head.

We also saw the Adam Stone. Mary moved the knitted figures of Jesus and Peter and invited me to climb on the pew to get a better photograph. We felt so welcome, we didn’t really want to leave!

St John The Evangelist (Crosscanonby)

Trip No.91  Entry No.3  Date Added: 17th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St John The Evangelist, Crosscanonby: We had arranged to meet the Reverend Mary at the church at 2pm. Between Gilcrux and here we had an hour to spare, so went into Cockermouth for lunch and a quick walk round the town. Travelling through Dearham and across the A596 to Crosscanonby, as we dropped down a small hill after having crossed the A596, we realised how close this church is to the Solway Firth (according to UK Grid Finder measurements its 900m).

This little church is side on to the road, and is virtually invisible until you reach the gate into the churchyard, although the ‘this church is open’ board gave something away.

I’d not looked at the AS Corpus notes I’d brought, but straight away we spotted the hogback against the south eastern corner of the nave.

Walking inside was a real treat. This is clearly a very old building. Reverend Mary (just ‘Mary’ she said) told us this church used to be the mother church for Maryport and the farm house next door (to the west of the church) used to be part of the monastery; the monks used to process from the monastery to the church; rumour has it there is a tunnel from the farmhouse to the church, but it’s never been found.

The church is pretty special, although I focussed on photographing the stones in the porch whilst Andrew spoke to Mary about the structure of the building, as I was conscious of taking up Mary’s time and we needed her to come across to Dearham to open the vestry for us. I’d love to go back and spend more time here.

St Mary's Church (Gilcrux)

Trip No.91  Entry No.2  Date Added: 16th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 5

Log Text: St Mary's Church, Gilcrux: The little car park outside the church was full (3 cars and a Water Board van), so we had to park just west of the well and walk back to the church – only a little way. The church door was open for us this time.

This is a remarkable little church inside. At first site, the nave appears more like a Methodist chapel – at first glance. Then my gaze lit on the archway into the chancel, with a ‘squint’ over the right hand column and a chunk taken out of the eastern side of the left hand column. Walking into the chancel is very reminiscent of Escombe Saxon Church – this place is ancient and very peaceful.

The collection of stones was underneath a table against the south wall, near the porch, so we turned into furniture removers, carefully taking the notice board, vases and loose notices off the table, then moving the table to examine and photograph the pieces.

We managed to put together the pieces of the cross head and part of the shaft, and photographed two sides. One of the pieces left white, chalky marks on our hands, and is very white against the grey of the other two pieces. This is clearly the cast of the upper part of the cross head.

We closed the church door to indicate to the keyholder we’d been in and left again, and walked round to the north side of the church, where it is very obvious that the church has been built on a mound.

There was no church guide book, but there were some ‘notes for visitors’ which I photographed, and have typed into my walk journal.

The spring was in full flow, and it was lovely to hear it babbling away. Brilliant. Definitely worth a return visit.

St Mungo's Church (Bromfield)

Trip No.91  Entry No.1  Date Added: 15th Aug 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 14th Aug 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St Mungo's Church, Bromfield: We'd arranged with the church warden for the church to be left open for us for an hour or so this morning, so this was our first stop on a 'five church stop' tour. We were looking forward to finding cross head and cross shaft fragments, and to being able to see the reverse side of the hogback stone above the doorway.

Whilst it looks quite daunting from the outside, the inside of the church is lovely, with some unique features, such as unusual corbels and the chancel arch, which is 'transitional between Norman and Gothic styles'.

I found the cemented remains of the cross head cemeted to the west end of the north aisle, and had to remove umbrellas and a carpet sweeper to see it. It was very cobwebby, and looked sadly neglected.

AS Corpus Bromfield 02 was in two pieces. There was a collection of old stones in the north transept, and we needed to move a low bench and a collection of chairs to be able to see this.

The hogback from the other side (inside the church) was much more convincing, and there was also a consecration cross on the right hand door jamb of the south door. Well worth returning to see.

Bessygarth Well (King's Meaburn)

Trip No.90  Entry No.5  Date Added: 31st Jul 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 30th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Bessygarth Well, King's Meaburn: This is a very old village, with a scheduled 17th century barn opposite the bus stop next to the village hall where we parked. The village runs in a long ribbon along both sides of the road, with an incongruous caravan park tucked behind the village hall.

Despite being marked on the OS map, we couldn’t find this well at first, so asked someone who’d pulled up outside one of the cottages opposite. He was only visiting, but was kind enough to ask inside the house, and relayed a message, saying that “if there’s some old tin in the field, that’s the well”. We were told it was OK to go into the field, providing we ensured the gate was shut.

Andrew dropped a stone down it, and it sounded deep! There was a most peculiar solid cast iron ‘bowl’ deeply embedded into the ground next to the well. Was this the cap of an old pump?

The field behind the well is covered in lumps and bumps. Researching it when I got home, found it was the site of the medieval settlement.

Powdonnet Well (Morland)

Trip No.90  Entry No.4  Date Added: 31st Jul 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 3 Access 4

Log Text: Powdonnet Well, Morland, Cumbria: If not quite so overgrown, I'd have awarded this a '4: Good' rating on Ambience (despite the downpour after the long dry spell!). This well is marked on the OS map, but there is no mention in either Pastscape or HE.

The Holy Wells of Cumbria booklet describes this well as: “Morland. Location: Approx. 6.5 miles south east of Penrith. At the northern end of Morland village. Take road from Morland towards Cliburn. On right, as you leave village, opposite ‘Morland’ sign, is a small parking area. The standing stone and pool are close to the road.

The well had been neglected since the booklet was written in 2008 and we had to pick our way through the tangle of tree branches. We were just approaching the site of the well when the heavens opened, and there was an absolute downpour. Somewhat protected by the trees, we nevertheless decided to explore.

The easiest way to the standing stone and well is to find the overgrown footpath at the southern end of the bridge across the small stream which crosses under the road and joins the Morland Beck to the east of the well site.

The water in the pool is crystal clear. The water really does appear from nowhere. We stood at the southern end of the spring, listening to the water rushing up from the ground. The pool has been created by a couple of stone/concrete dams across the spring just to the northern part of the site. A lovely place. Next time we visit, remember to bring pruning shears!

Chapel Well (Staffield)

Trip No.90  Entry No.3  Date Added: 31st Jul 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 30th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 5 Access 4

Log Text: Chapel Well, Near Staffield, Cumbria: Not far from the incised stone at Cross House. We parked near the junction down the hill where there was room to bump up onto the grass verge and walked to the gate at NY 53603 43081, which is signposted towards ‘Dale’. We kept the dry stone wall to our right hand side, and as we approached the gate into the wood, a stone drinking trough and a tree with a ditch leading from it came into view. Slightly up the slope there were some red sandstone boulders on the horizon, with a sheep track leading up to it.

The drinking trough is at NY 53774 43194 and is similar to the ones we saw at Newbeggin. The tree with its accompanying ditch is at NY 53778 43244, and there are signs of another stone structure under the tree, now dry and ruined, but possibly a secondary outlet for the well during wet weather. At the bottom of the slope, a small hole leads through the stone wall into Croglin Water just beyond.

This well is certainly in a lovely spot, hidden in a dip towards the top of the slope. There were two ‘standing stones’, one on either side of the large well pool; the rest of the large boulders had been quarried and placed around the top of the pool. A circular well bowl can be seen at the top, centre of the well, and a good flow of water came from the well (not as much as Powdonnet Well). Half a sheep had been left to rot at the south eastern end of the pool, which spoilt the ambience, and stopped me from exploring the exit pipe, but taking that away, we could have lingered for a long while. Beautiful!

Cross House Incised Stone

Trip No.90  Entry No.2  Date Added: 31st Jul 2018
Site Type: Ancient Cross Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 30th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: Cross House Incised Stone, Staffield: We parked at NY 53519 43219, where a gate lets you into the footpath which goes down the hill, and joins a second footpath to Chapel Well. We walked back up the hill towards Cross House. The pillar was just visible through the hedge. We let ourselves in to the field by the gate near Cross House (there was no-one around to ask) and quickly walked to the pillar to photograph the cross.

Interesting that HE classes this as a sanctuary cross, and Pastscape as a possible wayside or boundary cross.

On processing the photographs to post to the Portal this morning, I realised we’d been to this site in October 2015, but hadn’t submitted a new site or photos to the Portal. I had asked the lady hanging out her washing in the garden of Cross House and she’d given us permission to go into the field.

Splendid views south over to the River Eden and the site of the old priory. The pillar was very near the hedge, , but it was still possible to get photos of the recut stone in its 19th century pillar.

St Mary's Well (Wreay)

Trip No.90  Entry No.1  Date Added: 31st Jul 2018
Site Type: Holy Well or Sacred Spring Country: England (Cumbria)
Visited: Yes on 30th Jul 2018. My rating: Condition 3 Ambience 4 Access 4

Log Text: St Mary's Well and copy of the Bewcastle Cross, Wreay: This is a delightful little village, with some very old houses. The church is very easy to find, right in the middle of the village, opposite the colourful school, with plenty of parking on the streets nearby.

This well is to the southern side of the exterior western wall, although it has been dry for some considerable time. The well spout, in the form of an animal head, is quite superb and unusual (like the gargoyles on the roof line of the church).

The Holy Wells of Cumbria booklet (page 14) describes this well as:
Location: Approx. 9 miles south of Carlisle. The well is found by the front wall of St. Mary’s Church, Wreay.
Description: Although it is unknown whether this was a holy well, the highly unusual and attractive church is well worth a visit in itself. The original church dates back to 1319, and was rebuilt by Sarah Losh in 1840-42 – see also well 4 at Brisco – in memory of her sister Catherine and her parents. Italian in style, it is full of highly original and deeply symbolic carvings in wood and stone, many representing in forms from nature the eternal contrast between light and dark, or life and death. The well outside is a curious construction surrounded by cast iron arrows. Dog-leg stone steps lead down into the well, where water flows from a lion’s (or dog’s head) into a aquare stone piscina blessed with a solitary green fern and scattering of copper coins. The well (in 2008) was recently restored and is in excellent condition."

There was no water, no fern and no coins when we visited. Whilst the church, the sundial and the font in the churchyard are all scheduled, there is no mention of the well or the copy of the Bewcastle Cross. The church is indeed well worth looking inside. Andrew opened the door and said "I'm leaving you to go in first - it's scary!"