Details

The monument includes a wayside cross known as Lady Cross situated north of
the A171 Guisborough to Whitby road and 20m west of the turn-off to Barnby.
The Lady Cross survives as a stone base and broken shaft. The base is of local
sandstone, measures 0.48m by 0.5m and stands 0.11m high. The shaft is set into
a socket and measures 0.2m by 0.28m with the wider faces to the north and
south. It is 0.6m high. The shaft is inscribed with sculpted letters which are
largely indecipherable but can be interpreted as an indication of the
direction to Whitby and Guisborough. The lettering on the south face is in
mirror writing. The inscription serves to convert the stump of a wayside cross
of late medieval date into a waymarker of the 18th century.
The Lady Cross has been set up close to its original position where it marks
the junction of the old High Street out of Whitby and the track from Grosmont
Priory to the ridgeway across Egton Low Moor which is now the A171. The line
of the medieval ridgeway is marked to the west by the place name Stanegate
(the stone road) where it turns down into Eskdale. The Ordnance Survey records
the cross as a place name only.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

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 earth-
fast monuments, except those which are extremely damaged and removed from
their original locations, are considered worthy of protection.

The Lady Cross survives well as a base and part of the original shaft.
Although probably moved from its original site it still marks the line of an
important medieval ridgeway and the junction with the road from Grosmont
Priory. It is also of interest as having been reused as a waymarker in the
early 18th century.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Hayes, R H, Old Roads and Pannierways in North East Yorkshire, (1988), 23

Source: Historic England