Scheduled Monument: Cross Base on South Side of Longstone Lane 100m WNW of the Entrance to Cobden Farm (1013477)

EXTRACT FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE'S RECORD OF SCHEDULED MONUMENTS MONUMENT: Cross base on south side of Longstone Lane 100m WNW of the entrance to Cobden Farm PARISH: LITTLE BUDWORTH WHITEGATE AND MARTON DISTRICT: VALE ROYAL COUNTY: CHESHIRE NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 25698 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE(S): SJ58546783 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument includes a red sandstone cross base on a modern concrete plinth beside the road called Longstone Lane 100m WNW of the entrance to Cobden Farm. The cross base measures 0.73m by 0.73m and stands 0.35m high above the plinth. The socket is 0.34m by 0.34m and 0.16m deep. The sides of the base are worn but were originally clean cut. The concrete plinth measures 0.9m by 0.9m and stands 0.75m high. The sides are chamfered to the top. The cross is in its original position beside a medieval route around the Abbots Moss to Vale Royal Abbey. There are three other crosses along this road including the Longstone and the Headless Cross. It is also on the boundary between the parishes of Whitegate and Marton and Little Budworth. The cross may be one of seven destroyed by Puritan iconoclasts in the 17th century leading to a case in the Star Chamber. The surface of the road is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath it is included. The cross is Listed Grade II. ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE Wayside crosses are one of several types of Christian cross erected during the medieval period, mostly from the 9th to 15th centuries AD. In addition to serving the function of reiterating and reinforcing the Christian faith amongst those who passed the cross and of reassuring the traveller, wayside crosses often fulfilled a role as waymarkers, especially in difficult and otherwise unmarked terrain. The crosses might be on regularly used routes linking ordinary settlements or on routes having a more specifically religious function, including those providing access to religious sites for parishioners and funeral processions, or marking long-distance routes frequented on pilgrimages. Over 350 wayside crosses are known nationally, concentrated in south west England throughout Cornwall and on Dartmoor where they form the commonest type of stone cross. A small group also occurs on the North York Moors. Relatively few examples have been recorded elsewhere and these are generally confined to remote moorland locations. Outside Cornwall almost all wayside crosses take the form of a `Latin' cross, in which the cross-head itself is shaped within the projecting arms of an unenclosed cross. In Cornwall wayside crosses vary considerably in form and decoration. The commonest type includes a round, or `wheel', head on the faces of which various forms of cross or related designs were carved in relief or incised, the spaces between the cross arms possibly pierced. The design was sometimes supplemented with a relief figure of Christ and the shaft might bear decorative panels and motifs. Less common forms in Cornwall include the `Latin' cross and, much rarer, the simple slab with a low relief cross on both faces. Rare examples of wheel-head and slab-form crosses also occur within the North York Moors group. Most wayside crosses have either a simple socketed base or show no evidence for a separate base at all. Wayside crosses contribute significantly to our understanding of medieval religious customs and sculptural traditions and to our knowledge of medieval routeways and settlement patterns. All wayside crosses which survive as earthfast monuments, except those which are extremely damaged and removed from their original locations, are considered worthy of protection. The cross base on Longstone Lane survives reasonably well and still stands in its original position adjacent to a medieval road. This road led to Vale Royal Abbey and has three other crosses along it. Very few such crosses survive in Cheshire. MONUMENT INCLUDED IN THE SCHEDULE ON 30th August 1995