Details

The monument includes a wayside cross known as Jenny Bradley on Greenhow Moor.
It stands beside the old packhorse way from Baysdale Abbey southwards to
Ryedale. A portion of the original trod or paved way can be seen close by.
This route is parallelled by the present Cleveland Way.

The cross survives as a cross base and part of the shaft. Both are in the
original position and are dated to the late medieval period. The base is
square and measures 0.65m by 0.65m and is 0.15m high. A socket hole is also
square and measures 0.31m by 0.31m. The square shaft sits in the hole and is
0.28m by 0.28m. It is undecorated and stands 1.08m high. There are traces of
rough dressing on the south face of the shaft.

Immediately to the west of the cross is a large Feversham boundary stone dated
1883. This stone is not included in the scheduling nor is the metalled surface
of the bridlepath 1m to the east of the cross but the ground beneath the
cross, boundary stone, and bridlepath is included.

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 wayside cross known as Jenny Bradley survives well in spite of weathering
and the loss of part of the shaft and the head. It is in its original position
on the side of a medieval packhorse way from Baysdale Abbey. The cross gives
us insight into the management of the landscape and the transport routes, as
well as the religious attitudes of the medieval period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Hayes, R H, Old Roads and Pannierways in North East Yorkshire, (1988), 84

Source: Historic England