This website attempts to present information on, and photographs of, all the known crosses in Lincolnshire, within its gazetteer pages. You can move straight to the gazetteer HERE.


Medieval Standing Crosses generally rate amongst the most undervalued of ancient monuments and, admittedly, most standing cross remnants are unremarkable. But we do have some good ones, and if we were to pick the TOP TEN medieval crosses in Lincolnshire we might choose:

Crosses were often erected in the communal areas of a town or village – the village green or town square – which usually served also as market place and a gathering place for proclamations and  public meetings. A market cross (sometimes termed a Butter cross) was a symbol of fair and honest trade (carried out under the eyes of God) and the structures themselves evolved from simple standing crosses set on steps to quite elaborate buildings surmounted by the cross, validating the transactions being carried on beneath. The authority of the market cross extended to it being the right and proper place for the proclamation of important news and statements and thus the site of the cross becomes the focus of not only religious significance, but of civil solemnity and status.


The cross remains described in this website are mostly thought to be twelfth to sixteenth century in origin – The remains of some forty ‘Saxon’ crosses are known within the county and it is not proposed to describe these in detail, for that has already been admirably done in The Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture – Lincolnshire (Vol 5) by Paul Everson and David Stocker. See: https://chacklepie.com/ascorpus/catvol5.php

The Anatomy of a Medieval Cross

CROSS HEADS : because these were the main target of 16th and 17th century iconoclasts, few have survived. A very wide range of designs were employed. Replacement heads are often found.

KNOP : The terminal of the shaft and usually integral with it. Often simple, occasionally elaborate. As with cross heads, they rarely survive.

SHAFT : Usually square or octagonal. Generally a single piece of stone – but many survivors are repaired.

BASE or SOCKET STONE: (occasionally called a ‘socle’)- Usually square with a central square socket for the cross shaft. The corners are often decorated – on notable examples, the side faces are carved.

STEPS : Some crosses are mounted on two or three steps – others have none (just a socket stone). Market crosses may have many steps, and thus have a very broad base.

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