Pre-Norman Stone Crosses in the British Isles

The village of Oswaldkirk is named after St. Oswald's Church which stands there. The foundation of the church is lost in the mists of time, but there is evidence that the church was already thriving at least as far back as the tenth century. Whether there really was any connection between the king and this location cannot be claimed for certain, but this place was within the boundary of Oswald's kingdom, and he may have passed this way en route from his palace at Bamburgh to York, where he was responsible for the foundation of the first stone church dedicated to St. Peter, which ultimately became known as York Minster

Part of the evidence that this was a Christian site at least as far back as Viking times is the presence at the church of two hogback fragments, one of which bears some slender double-strand knotwork characteristic of the tenth century, whilst the other is from the gable-end of the hogback and bears a carved representation of a woman holding a baby, presumably representing the Madonna and Child.

St. Oswald's church is in the western part of the village.
There are many places in Ryedale with pre-Norman remains.
Click on this map to see the pages for the places other than Oswaldkirk.

Viking ("Anglo-Norse") sites
Gosforth	Aspatria, Burnsall, Dearham, Dyserth, Gosforth, Halton, Hovingham, Lastingham, Maen Achwyfan, Muncaster, Oswaldkirk, Penmon, Penrith, Staveley (North Yorkshire), Sinnington, Stonegrave, Urswick, Waberthwaite

* The Ordnance Survey National Grid Reference (and corresponding Latitude/Longitude) given at the top of the pages describing individual sites usually refer to the location of the closest or most prominent entrance to the site where the monument is to be found - e.g. a gate into a churchyard. For monuments located in open country, or at a significant distance from the site entrance as just defined, the co-ordinates usually refer to the exact location of the monument.
Please allow for a small error in the co-ordinates of up to a couple of dozen metres.

Thanks to the people at streetmap.co.uk, if you click on the Grid References in the magenta boxes on the site pages,
you'll see an extract from the relevant Ordnance Survey 1:50000 Landranger map!

As the official mapping agency of the United Kingdom Government, the Ordnance Survey produces the definitive maps of the country. They contain a wealth of information.
For more details, visit www,ordnancesurvey.co.uk/leisure

Click here if you need an explanation of the terminology on these pages

Click here if you would like to see a bibliography

Click here if you would like to download the freeware "Mordred" font (in True-type for Windows)
so that the headings used on these pages will then look like the following:

Click to go to Pre-Norman crosses in:	England	the island of Ireland	the Isle of Man	Scotland	Wales	Read about the Saints
Click to go to Mediaeval crosses in:	England	the island of Ireland	the Isle of Man	Scotland	Wales

Locality maps at this web-site have been developed using Microsoft AutoRoute Express 2000 (and later editions).

This page is a part of Chris Tolley's web-site. Latest update: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 12:16
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The two hogback fragments of Oswaldkirk, and a modern sculpture (signed JB 1980) inspired by one of them, which is on display nearby. (August 2001)