Pre-Norman Stone Crosses in the British Isles

Thornton Watlass is one of many small settlements in and around Wensleydale whose antiquity is demonstrated by the presence of Saxon-age remains. St. Mary's Church stands on the southern edge of the village, and contains fragments of two separate cross-heads, each of which appears to feature a carved figure that has been assumed in the past to represent the crucifixion.

Collingwood describes both of these cross heads as "merely poor work of a decadent age". Making due allowance for the fact that Collingwood was a man of his time and in this more enlightened age, thoughtful critics tend not to be so snobbish in their comments, one nevertheless cannot disagree much when it comes to this fragment.

The visible hands appear to betray the fact that this is a crucifixion scene, but what is one to make of the legs? If it is meant to represent Jesus on the cross at Calvary, then it betrays a lack of understanding of standard iconography. A second, more subtle, and to my mind more unlikely, option is that it represents instead the crucifixion of St. Andrew, whom Christian tradition says was crucified on a saltire cross (X) rather than a "Greek" cross (†). The flaw in that reasoning is that the association of the saltire cross with St. Andrew seems to be an artistic convention from the thirteenth century, two to three hundred years after the presumed date of this particular cross fragment. (Nov 2002)

The second cross head fragment may be more promising. Perhaps Collingwood understood this as a badly-carved crucifixion scene - if it is a crucifixion, then it certainly isn't the best, but if it isn't, then Collingwood's final comment on these and a group of related monuments becomes rather ironically pointed: "the stones are documents historical, not art treasures; if we understood all they dumbly try to explain, the dark age of Northern England would soon have its story told."

I see here a missionary (a monk, complete with neck satchel - similar perhaps to the "missionary" depicted on the marvellous Stonegrave cross). After all, someone must have taken the Gospel to all those small settlements in Wensleydale where one can find these monuments. (Nov 2002)

There are many locations in Wensleydale with Saxon-age remains.
Some are crosses or cross fragments, whilst others are grave markers of one sort or another.
Clicking on the relevant cross(es) above should take you to the appropriate page at this website
(assuming that the page has been prepared).

* 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).

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The two partial cross-heads have been built into the church porch. Although there is a certain symmetry to the manner they have been mounted, the one on the left above (which is also on the left as you enter the church) has been mounted sideways! (Nov 2002)