Details

The monument includes a medieval wayside cross known as Ann's Cross and the
bowl barrow on which it is set on Sneaton High Moor. The cross marks an old
way known as the Pannierman's Causeway from Hackness to Whitby. The cross is
Listed Grade II. Both the cross and barrow are included in the scheduling.
The cross consists of a base and shaft made of fine yellow sandstone. The base
is squared and is 0.76m wide and 0.51m high. At a point 0.31m above ground the
base has been chamfered to the socket. The socket is 0.36m wide at the east
face and 0.28m wide at the north face. The shaft is poorly fitted into the
socket and is 0.27m wide on the east face and 0.24m wide on the north face.
The shaft is 1.04m high and broken off at the top. This is also broken and
repaired at a point 0.56m below the apex. Beside the cross is a portion of
the broken shaft showing the slight curve of the cross head on one edge. This
stone is 0.36m wide and partly embedded in the ground.
The cross is set into the top of a bowl barrow which is 18m in diameter with a
ditch 2m wide around the base. There are faint traces of a stone kerb at the
base of the barrow. The barrow mound is 1.2m high.
The cross marks the way known as the Pannierman's Causeway as well as marking
the boundary between the medieval parishes of Goathland and Sneaton.

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.

Bowl barrows are funerary monuments dating from the Late Neolithic to the Late
Bronze Age with most examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were
constructed as earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered
single or multiple burials. Their considerable variation in form and
longevity as a monument type provide information on the diversity of beliefs
and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. A substantial
proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of protection.
Ann's Cross wayside cross survives well with the fragment of the head to
indicate its type and style. It marks one of the medieval routes known as the
Pannierman's Causeway which connected Hackness and Whitby.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Hayes, R H, Old Roads and Pannierways in North East Yorkshire, (1988), 31

Source: Historic England