INDEX of ANCIENT DERBYSHIRE CROSSES
Ancient Derbyshire crosses are often found in many churchyards and were intended to sanctify the churchyard and provide a communal memorial to all the dead of the parish.
At the top of the shaft was either a cross or a tabernacle.
Many survive only as a base and part of the shaft, because the cross was often destroyed by iconoclasts.

Preaching Crosses
In the 6th and 7th centuries, wooden crosses marked the spots where priests or monks preached to the local community.
The wooden cross was replaced by a more permanent stone cross, around which services were held.
Later still a wooden church might well have been erected.

There are also many market, village and wayside crosses.

Alport Bakewell churchyard Barlborough village cross Beeley Two Dales cross Bonsall cross Bradbourne cross Bradley cross Chapel en le Frith Clifton cross base Edale cross Fox Lane cross Higham village cross

Hope cross Hope – Eccles Cross Hope – St Peter’s Cross Ilam park cross King Sterndale market cross Lady’s cross Shillito Wood Stoney Middleton Corn Laws cross The Bowstones Tissington cross base Wheston cross Wormhill

ALPORT CROSSES Two damaged crosses have been set onto walls in Alport.

RUNIC CROSS at All Saints churchyard in Bakewell This ornate Runic Cross is one of two ninth century Saxon crosses in All Saints churchyard at Bakewell and stands in an enclosure near the south transept – the second one is known as Beeley cross. It is almost complete and the largest of the two. The carving includes scroll work, an animal which appears to have something between its paws and horse and rider. Prev 1of3 Next

BARLBOROUGH VILLAGE CROSS The Cross erected at the junction of Church Street, Park Street and High Street, was the centre of village activities for hundreds of years. The base is thought to be Norman, but more likely to be 14th century with the column being added in the late 17th century. A plaque at the base of the cross reads “This plaque was erected to commemorate the successful campaign to keep Barlborough in Derbyshire (1969 to 1971)”.

BEELEY or TWO DALES CROSS in Bakewell churchyard
Two Dales or Beeley cross now stands in Bakewell churchyard along with another Saxon cross. It is in good condition due in part to it having been buried for some time.

from ‘Crosses of the Peak District’ –

Beeley Cross
This wayside cross has had an interesting recent history. In the grounds of Holt House in Two Dales about a mile north-east of Darley Bridge there once stood an ancient cross-shaft. There are two differing explanations as to how the cross came to be in this position, but both follow similar lines. The first explanation is that the shaft was discovered at some date during the nineteenth century in the fields near Burley Fields Farm (SK276642) by farm workers who found it lying under two feet of earth. The owner of the land at the time was also the owner of Holt House and he had it brought there and set up on a solid base. In another account the cross was found in the 20-acre field about 600 yards northwest of Screetham Farm House near Gladwin’s Mark Farm beside Beeley Lane. This would be in the area SK299672. Either or neither of these explanations might be true; the second would lie beside the Chatsworth to Alfreton road which probably follows the same line as an earlier packhorse track, a typical site for a roadside cross, and therefore the more likely. Burdett’s map shows an old track to support this suggestion and fails to show a similar track passing close to Burley Fields Farm.
Beeley Moor Cross in Bakewell Churchyard
G.H.B. Ward was in no doubt as to the original situation of the cross. On the reverse of document F17L in Sheffield Library he wrote:
“The Saxon Cross In Holt House grounds at Darley Dale and described by T.L.Tudor in Derbyshire Archaeological Journal in 1936 was not found where stated but in the Twenty Acre Field about 600 Yards North west of Screetham Farm House and as I proved on the spot with S.O. Kay (who was told by a retired gamekeeper). It is the first Saxon Cross which I have proved…..and came from beside the historic bridle road. It is beside the Chatsworth Alfreton bridleway as marked on this map. This history must be corrected. Possibly the owner of Holt House did not wish the site from which he obtained the cross to be known and informed Tudor wrongly.”

BONSALL CROSS Bonsall applied for a market charter in the 1600s but this was refused. Nevertheless an impressive market cross was erected. The cross shaft is mounted on a base which stands on top of a set of concentric steps numbering from eleven to fifteen due to the sloping road. It is thought the cross shaft may date from the 14th or 15th century. In 1678 this was topped with a stone ball carved with faces. In 1870 the shaft was restored, paid for by the Prince family of Bonsall.”

BRADBOURNE CROSS Lower part of stone carving of crucifixion and interlaced foliage thought to date from the early 8th century. It is impressive now but must have been very ornate when new. The south face has four panels. Three are too badly defaced to make out and the third depicts the crucifixion. The north face also has four panels, upper two badly worn and lower two show saints with books. The other two faces have ornate scroll work of foliage and near the base of each is an archer shooting at men and animals.

Bradley Churchyard cross in the churchyard of Bradley All Saints, Bradley near Ashbourne this is a stone cross that Cromwell’s soldiers beheaded

Eccles Pike Cross – Chapel en le Frith The Eccles Pike Cross lies in the churchyard of St Thomas Becket church. It was moved here from Ollerenshaw Farm in 1925. It is believed to be Anglo-Saxon and is covered in very worn carvings.

Clifton cross base
In the garden of a Thorpe private house stands the base of the Clifton Cross. This was originally from near Ashbourne, on the road from Ashbourne to Lichfield. It formerly stood at SK168453 and was a square section cross as can still be seen from where it was leaded into the base. Originally there was a face carved on each corner but these are now so badly eroded as to be almost unrecognisable.
There was also another cross at Clifton, the Clifton Butter Cross which was outside the Cock Inn in the 1960’s. It was plain, cylindrical and about 16 inches high. It has since disappeared.

Edale Cross This cross, made from local gritstone and quite coarsely carved, is believed to be medieval in date and was probably erected by the Cistercian monks of Basingwerk Abbey at the southern boundary of land which they received from Henry II in 1157.The cross was thrown down from its original position and its base and part of the shaft are missing. It was found buried in peat by local farmers who re-erected it and carved their initials onto the front with the date 1810.from Historic England it is is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 The monument, known both as Edale Cross and Champion Cross, is situated below Kinderlow in the northern gritstone moorlands of the Derbyshire Peak District. It includes a freestanding medieval wayside and boundary cross which stands on the parish boundary between Hayfield and Edale next to the ancient moorland track between the two villages. It also marked the edge of the former royal forest of Peak Forest. from Wikipedia – The first cross on the site may have been set up by the Abbots of Basingwerk Abbey to mark the southern boundary of their land, granted in 1157. The date of the current cross is unknown, although a plaque beside it claims it to be mediaeval. At some point it fell down, and was re-erected in 1810, when the date and initials JG, WD, GH, JH and JS were carved into it. These stand for John Gee, William Drinkwater, George and Joseph Hadfield and John Shirt, local farmers of the day who raised the cross.

FOX LANE CROSS – SK297754 It is thought that this may have been a parish boundary marker and it is easily accessed from Fox Lane close by is Shillito Wood cross

Higham village cross In 1243, Higham was granted a charter for a weekly market and annual fair and the market town flourished for about 500 years before slowly declining as larger regional markets became accessible through improved transport.. There is a village cross in the main street that was erected in 1856. This replaced an earlier market cross erected during the seventeen hundreds, and this in turn is believed to have replaced a cross within the medieval market place. British Listed Buildings records it as -Cross. C18, restored 1856. Sandstone. C18 six stepped square stone plinth. C19 stone cross with column to base. Chamfered square knot, topped by Greek- type cross. Also a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

ECCLES CROSS – Hope churchyard Eccles Cross now stands in Hope Churchyard but it was originally a wayside cross standing at SK175831. As stone churches came to be built, ‘Holy crosses’ were placed along outlying tracks to guide travellers to them and this cross was sited on an old track leading directly to the church. When the Rev. Cox was examining crosses in 1904 he refers to it as: “another medieval base and part of a shaft in a field on the high ground to the south of Hope Church.” St Peter’s cross is also here.

ST PETER’S CROSS – HOPE CHURCHYARD There was a church and priest in Hope before the Norman Conquest, nothing remains of the Saxon church except the cross mounted in a modern base. It is believed to date from the time of King Alfred, was hidden on the fabric of Hope School from the time of the Civil War until 1858 when it was discovered during demolition of the school house. Its excellent state is due to it having been buried in a wall for two hundred years and close by the sundial and part of a guidestoop. Opposite the South church door is a Calvary of five octagonal steps with a sundial pillar mounted in an octagon base on top. The base has a square hole in it which would accommodate the Saxon cross shaft. It is supposed that it was once mounted on the calvary but this is more typical of a market cross. Eccles cross is also in the churchyard.

Ilam Park cross This Cross shaft was taken from the foundations of a cottage during the rebuilding of Ilam village about 1840. Traditionally it is known as the “Battle Stone” and associated with the struggle between the Saxons and the Danes. The carving is similar to that on the crosses in Ilam and Checkley churchyards, and probably dates from the middle of the 11th century.

KING STERNDALE MARKET CROSS King Sterndale Market cross stands in an open area at the hamlet of King Sterndale. It lies close to an old trackway which would have crossed the River Wye but Its continuation on the opposite side of the river is difficult to trace because of the huge quarries of the Tunstead Works. The cross is probably not in its original position and has been reset within stone slabs. The inscription giving details of this is almost undecipherable today due erosion.

LADY’S CROSS This Cross is mentioned in a document of 1263 and is said to have served as a marker for the junction of the boundaries of Hathersage, Holmesfield and Totley, although this junction actually lies some distance to the south-west on White Edge moor at SK271781.

SHILLITO WOOD CROSS – SK296748 Variously known as Shillito Wood or Bole Hill Cross it was also the Shepherd’s Cross on the Victorian Ordnance Survey map. It is to be found in the wood by the car park south of Fox Lane cross.

Stoney Middleton Corn Laws cross Inscribed 1846, this cross was erected to celebrate the repeal of the Corn Laws of 1846 which benefited the working class.

Bow stones Lyme Park The Bowstones were the upper parts of the shafts of double Anglo Saxon crosses, dating to the 9th or 10th century AD. The crosses were probably destroyed shortly after the Reformation in the mid 16th century and would be thrown down around 1548 as part of the religious upheavals during the reign of Edward VI. Eventually they would have become covered with earth and vegetation and forgotten. In the seventeenth century two round shafts were found in the Church Field, and were claimed by the Leghs of Lyme who set them up in a specially made stone base sunk into the ground on the boundary of their estate at SJ973813. Where we know them today as the Bowstones.

TISSINGTON CROSS BASE This old and badly worn cross base with no cross shaft can be found near the churchyard wall on the north side of the church.

Wheston cross

Wormhill churchyard cross Part of a plain cross raised on steps. A sundial has been fixed onto the broken shaft which is inscribed – “The gift of Robert Meverell, gent. G.R. fecit 1670”.