Details

The monument is a wayside and boundary cross located on the south side of Lee
Lane 25m west of its junction with Catshaw Lane. It includes the shaft and
socket stone of the cross which are currently incorporated into a drystone
field wall.
The socket stone or socle is a 65cm square gritstone block with a visible
height of c.20cm. The top half has chamfered corners which make it octagonal
though the bottom half is square. The shaft is a rectangular section gritstone
post with chamfered corners and a bevelled top. It measures approximately 20cm
by 25cm by 1m high and appears to be complete though leaning. Inscribed in the
north face is a series of numbers which may be a date. The last number is
indecipherable but the first three read 185. This may relate to a
19th century survey or may, alternatively, be the date of the shaft itself
since it is not clear whether the two components of the cross are
contemporary.
The cross, which is Listed Grade II, stands on the parish boundary between
Penistone and Dunford and also waymarks the road from Penistone to Holmfirth.
Its precise date is not known but the socle at least is likely to be medieval
or early post-medieval. The post and wire fence passing through the area of
the scheduling is excluded from the scheduling though the ground underneath is
included. The drystone wall is not excluded from the scheduling because works
to it will affect the cross.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

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.

Though possibly missing its original shaft, Catshaw Cross is a good and
reasonably well preserved example of a boundary cross which also served as a
waymarker. Its importance is enhanced through its being in its original
location.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Hill, Angela Shackleton, (1994)
PI 333,

Source: Historic England