Standing cross, 140m north-west of St Andrew's Church

The Cross, Okeford Fitzpaine, Blandford Forum, Dorset

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

Overview

Standing cross, of probable C14 date. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1438377
Date first listed:: 06-Sep-2016
List Entry Name:: Standing cross, 140m north-west of St Andrew's Church
Statutory Address:: The Cross, Okeford Fitzpaine, Blandford Forum, Dorset

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1438377
Date first listed:: 06-Sep-2016
List Entry Name:: Standing cross, 140m north-west of St Andrew's Church
Statutory Address 1:: The Cross, Okeford Fitzpaine, Blandford Forum, Dorset

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: The Cross, Okeford Fitzpaine, Blandford Forum, Dorset

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

District:: Dorset (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Okeford Fitzpaine
National Grid Reference:: ST8063110927

Summary

Standing cross, of probable C14 date.

Reasons for Designation

The medieval standing cross in Okeford Fitzpaine is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Date: despite the loss of the original shaft and head, this is a standing cross of probable C14 date which is prominently sited in the centre of the village; *Historic interest: it illustrates well how some crosses served as foci during the medieval period; * Group value: it forms a group with other listed buildings, including the Old School House, 74 and 75 The Cross, and the Old Bell Stores, which are all Grade II listed.

History

Standing crosses, usually of stone, are free-standing upright structures that were mostly erected during the medieval period. Typically they comprised a shaft, often on a stepped base, supporting a decorative head of cross form or with a lantern, globe or finial. They varied considerably in elaboration, and stood in a variety of locations, to serve a range of functions. Those located outside churchyards were used as places for preaching, proclamation and penance. Crosses in market places may have helped to validate transactions. After the Reformation some continued in use as foci for municipal or borough ceremonies, for example as places for official proclamations and announcements; others were the scenes of games or recreational activity.

During the medieval period Okeford Fitzpaine was granted royal charters to hold a weekly market and a three-day yearly fair which were likely to have taken place on the village green. Okeford Fitzpaine’s standing cross, which is considered to probably date from the C14, is located on the former village green. Some restoration was carried out in the mid-C20.

Details

Standing cross of probable C14 date.

MATERIALS and PLAN: constructed of ashlar and square on plan.

DESCRIPTION: it comprises a chamfered plinth, some 2.5m wide, which is less visible at the south-west corner due to the slightly rising ground. It is surmounted by a two-stepped base and a socket stone; the shaft and head are missing. The socket stone is square at the base, chamfered above broach stops, and rises to an octagonal section. The tenon of the cross-shaft still lodges in a square mortice at the centre of the socket stone. There is a mid-C20 plaque on the north side of the base but the inscription is no longer clearly legible.

Sources

Websites
An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Vol.3, Central, accessed 3 August 2016 from http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/dorset/vol3/pp200-207

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

The listed building(s) is/are shown coloured blue on the attached map. Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), structures attached to or within the curtilage of the listed building (save those coloured blue on the map) are not to be treated as part of the listed building for the purposes of the Act.