Parish/DistrictAlkborough/North Lincs
Locationc. 4m south of the nave of St John the Baptist church
CategoryChurchyard cross
National Grid RefSE 8819 2187
DesignationListed I
Stone typeSandstone/gritstone
RefsDavies, 1915, LN&Q vol xiii No5 pp.129-157
VisitsDS/HH: 16 Nov 2006 | DS/DAS: 18 Jul 2023

A section of square sandstone shaft c.2 metres high standing in the churchyard of St John the Baptist’s church, approximately 4 metres south of the nave. It is not known if it is located in a buried socket stone.

Davies (1915 p.129-30) notes that there is a square hole in the top of the shaft for the cross head (or for a further shaft extension) and that the shaft is curiously weathered or worn ‘by the sharpening of arrows and instruments of husbandry on it.’ This suggestion is repeated by Pevsner (1989, p.96). It is a most unusual spiral shape, and the sandstone is an unusual stone in Lincolnshire which must have been imported from elsewhere (?north of the Humber).

The top of the shaft shows evidence of recent damage.

Alkborough

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