Parish/DistrictAddlethorpe/East Lindsey
Locationabout 9 m south of the south-east corner of the nave of St Nicholas’s church
CategoryChurchyard cross
National Grid RefTF 55102 69080
DesignationScheduled / Listed II
Stone TypeLimestone – fine grained Jurassic oolite – probably Ancaster
RefsAP Survey 14 June 1995; Davies, D. S., 1915, Lincs N & Q, vol XIII No. 5., p. 129; Oldfield, E., 1829, A Topographical and Historical Account of Wainfleet and the Wapentake of Candleshoe, p. 107
VisitsAP: 14 June 1995 | DS/HH: 29 May 2005 | DS/DAS: 10 Apr 2015

Cross in the churchyard of St Nicholas’s church, Addlethorpe.  Located about 9 metres south of the SE corner of the nave-aisle it is believed to stand in or near its original position. Although the chancel has gone at Addlethorpe (1720ish) the cross is roughly on the line where the chancel arch would have been.

The cross base has two steps supporting a square socket stone with a chamfered top edge. The steps are loose and have been partially reassembled, with pieces of brick and stone inserted in the core to stabilise it.

A fragment of shaft about one metre high, survives in situ fastened into the socket stone with lead. It is square at its base, rising with broach stops to a tapering octagonal form. The top of the surviving shaft is not smashed but cut level. It has the remains of four fixing holes (three still containing lead) and a central rebate. The pattern suggests a sundial plate mounting.

In his ‘Topographical and Historical Account of Wainfleet’ (1829, p.107) Oldfield comments that ‘In the church yard is a very ancient stone cross having a shaft for a dial.’ This is repeated by other commentators (Allen 18xx, Davies 1915) and presumably just means that the shaft has a sundial mounted upon it.

In 1915, Davies reported ‘The cross consists of two steps which are in need of repairs’ and this remains true 100 years later.

An engraving of Addlethorpe church c. 1829
showing the cross on the far right
(from Oldfield’s ‘Wainfleet’)
Addlethorpe churchyard cross in June 1995
Addlethorpe churchyard cross in April 2015
Addlethorpe cross – Upper surface of shaft fragment showing the various fixings
Addlethorpe

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