| Parish/District | Binbrook/East Lindsey |
| Location | c. 3m to east of the south porch of St Mary & St Gabriel’s church |
| Category | Churchyard cross |
| National Grid Ref | TF 21176 93924 |
| Designation | Listed II* / Scheduled |
| Stone type | Sandstone |
| Refs | Davies LN&Q vol 8; A Peach Survey 19 Jan 1998 |
| Visits | DS/HH: 23 Aug 2007 | |
There is a splendid cross situated about 3m to the east of the south porch of St Mary and St Gabriel’s church at Binbrook. Arguably (and according to the scheduling description) it is a complete cross with base, shaft and head – although I have to say that my first impression was that only part of the shaft (incorporating the carved cross head) had survived and had been re-erected in the socket stone. It’s certainly worth another visit to see if any further evidence on completeness is present although there is so much mortar holding/repairing the cross that it may not be possible to tell.
The socket stone is quadrangular, 0.86m N–S by 0.9m E–W with about 0.46m visible above the current ground surface. It has a chamfered upper edge. The shaft may rise square from its socket with stops to form a chamfered shaft, however, there is much erosion and it is hard to be sure about the stops. If they are really there, then the shaft (and cross) is complete. The shaft and head are carved from one piece of stone. The shaft is 0.36 x 0.2m at the bottom tapering to 0.3 x 0.2m below the cross head, which is 0.17m thick. The height of the shaft from socket stone to cross head is 1.52m. The whole cross is c. 2m high.
The cross head is c. 0.56 x 0.56m – it described as ‘floriated’ in the SM description but I prefer the listing description which gives: scrolled arms and central pierced quatrefoil. The stone appears to be sandstone and at the time of my visit in 2007 erosion on shaft and head were quite marked.
I recall I photographed a very similar cross shaft in the churchyard of Blanchland Abbey which is illustrated below.
