Scheduled Monument: WAYSIDE CROSS IN SHILLITO WOOD (1008612)

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 with 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 cross in Shillito Wood is a well-preserved example of a simple wayside cross set in its original location on a route across formerly open moorland. It is unusual in that it includes an integral shaft and cross head but is generally similar in appearance to its partner on the opposite side of Fox Lane. It also lies outside the two main areas of distribution for wayside crosses. DETAILS The monument is the southernmost example of two medieval wayside crosses located on either side of Fox Lane approximately 450m apart. It comprises a chiselled sandstone cross set into a square socket hole in a roughly dressed rectangular socle or cross base which measures 30cm high by 105cm north-south by 87cm east-west. The arms and top section of a somewhat eroded but largely intact cross head form a single unit with the cross shaft which is of rectangular section and tapers slightly towards the top. Its maximum width is 38cm north-south by 25cm east-west and it stands 188cm above the socle though it may, originally, have been slightly taller. Fox Lane is a modern road which follows an ancient route across Ramsley Moor in the East Moors of the Peak District. A number of hollow ways flanking the lane represent the remains of the earlier route served by the two crosses.