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Broom's Cross wayside cross, 150m north east of Orchard House

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1015910
Date first listed:: 11-Jun-1997

User submitted image — Uploaded by Phil Nash This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1015910
Date first listed:: 11-Jun-1997

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Sefton (Metropolitan Authority)
Parish:: Thornton
National Grid Reference:: SD 33926 01407

Reasons for Designation

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 150m north east of Orchard House survives well at or near to its original location beside an old road to Lydiate from Ince Blundell. There is another cross on this road to the north in the grounds of Ince Blundell Hall (the subject of a separate scheduling). The survival of these crosses can be attributed to the survival of the Catholic religion in the area after the Reformation.

Details

The monument includes a wayside cross on Holgate in Thornton. It stands on the west side of the track about 50m west of the junction of Holgate and Back Lane. The cross and base are Listed Grade II. The cross, which is medieval, survives as a sandstone base block which measures 0.7m by 0.65m and stands 0.15m above the turf in which it is embedded. The socket is 0.25m square and has a modern polished granite cross inserted with a plaque on the west face to name the cross and give a probable date for the original at around AD 1300. The cross stands at the side of an old lane leading to Lydiate and is one of a series of wayside crosses which survive in this district and appear to surround the parish church at Sefton. This was an area of Catholic recusancy after the Reformation and this has probably led to the survival of so many crosses in the parishes of south Lancashire. The concrete footings and the park bench adjacent to the cross are not included in the scheduling but the ground beneath is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 1 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 27617
Legacy System:: RSM

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.