Scheduled Monument: Stepped Cross Base In The Churchyard Of St Leonard's Church (1017839)

EXTRACT FROM ENGLISH HERITAGE'S RECORD OF SCHEDULED MONUMENTS MONUMENT: Stepped cross base in the churchyard of St Leonard's Church PARISH: WARMINGHAM DISTRICT: CREWE AND NANTWICH COUNTY: CHESHIRE NATIONAL MONUMENT NO: 30361 NATIONAL GRID REFERENCE(S): SJ70906105 DESCRIPTION OF THE MONUMENT The monument includes a stepped base (Listed Grade II) for a standing cross located in the southern quarter of the churchyard of St Leonard's Church. The remains consist of three steps and a base block of red sandstone, into which a fine limestone pillar with a sundial had been inserted in the 18th century. The base block and steps were originally for a churchyard cross and are medieval. The first step is a stone foundation, now level with the turf, about 2.4m square. The second step is 1.97m square and stands 0.24m high and the third is 1.4m square and 0.24m high. The base block is 0.93m square and 0.38m high with a chamfered top and a socle 0.33m square. The pillar is set into this with lead and this stands 1.22m high and has been damaged at the top. The sundial has been removed. The gravestones which have been erected beside the cross are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included. ASSESSMENT OF IMPORTANCE A standing cross is a free standing upright structure, usually of stone, mostly erected during the medieval period (mid 10th to mid 16th centuries AD). Standing crosses served a variety of functions. In churchyards they served as stations for outdoor processions, particularly in the observance of Palm Sunday. Elsewhere, standing crosses were used within settlements as places for preaching, public proclamation and penance, as well as defining rights of sanctuary. Standing crosses were also employed to mark boundaries between parishes, property, or settlements. A few crosses were erected to commemorate battles. Some crosses were linked to particular saints, whose support and protection their presence would have helped to invoke. Crosses in market places may have helped to validate transactions. After the Reformation, some crosses continued in use as foci for municipal or borough ceremonies, for example as places for official proclamations and announcements; some were the scenes of games or recreational activity. Standing crosses were distributed throughout England and are thought to have numbered in excess of 12,000. However, their survival since the Reformation has been variable, being much affected by local conditions, attitudes and religious sentiment. In particular, many cross-heads were destroyed by iconoclasts during the 16th and 17th centuries. Less than 2,000 medieval standing crosses, with or without cross-heads, are now thought to exist. The oldest and most basic form of standing cross is the monolith, a stone shaft often set directly in the ground without a base. The most common form is the stepped cross, in which the shaft is set in a socket stone and raised upon a flight of steps; this type of cross remained current from the 11th to 12th centuries until after the Reformation. Where the cross-head survives it may take a variety of forms, from a lantern-like structure to a crucifix; the more elaborate examples date from the 15th century. Much less common than stepped crosses are spire-shaped crosses, often composed of three or four receding stages with elaborate architectural decoration and/or sculptured figures; the most famous of these include the Eleanor crosses, erected by Edward I at the stopping places of the funeral cortege of his wife, who died in 1290. Also uncommon are the preaching crosses which were built in public places from the 13th century, typically in the cemeteries of religious communities and cathedrals, market places and wide thoroughfares; they include a stepped base, buttresses supporting a vaulted canopy, in turn carrying either a shaft and head or a pinnacled spire. Standing crosses contribute significantly to our understanding of medieval customs, both secular and religious, and to our knowledge of medieval parishes and settlement patterns. All crosses which survive as standing monuments, especially those which stand in or near their original location, are considered worthy of protection. The cross base in the churchyard at Warmingham survives reasonably well, despite the loss and subsequent replacement of the shaft, and is in its original location on the south side of the church. The cross indicates that the original parish church was medieval, even though there are no other traces of a medieval foundation. MONUMENT INCLUDED IN THE SCHEDULE ON 29th January 1998