| Parish/District | Friskney/East Lindsey |
| Location | South east of the south porch of the church of All Saints Church, Friskney |
| Category | Churchyard cross |
| National Grid Ref | TF 46065 55378 |
| Designation | Scheduled / Listed I |
| Stone type | Limestone |
| Refs | A P Survey 9 Oct 1994; Davies, D. S., 1915, Lincs N & Q, Vol XIII, No.5 pp129-157; Wainfleet, 1829, History of Wainfleet, p.182; |
| Visits | AP: 9 Oct 1994 | DS/HH: 17 Nov 2005 |
Friskney’s remarkable churchyard cross is first reported in Oldfield’s History of Wainfleet (1829, p.182) where he states: ‘Near the south gate of the churchyard is an ancient stone having a hole in the centre, in which was formerly fixed a stone pillar, either for the support of the rood cross or of a sundial. On the four corners of this stone are the mutilated figures of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle.’
During renovations to Friskney church in 1879 parts of the shaft of the cross and of the cross head were found buried beneath floor of the church – a nice example of optimistic conservation during the turbulent decades of the 16th and 17th century. These elements have now been reunited with their socket stone, with modern replacements for missing sections of shaft and head. The whole is mounted on a modern plinth of brick and stone. However, Pevsner thinks the head looks recut in the 17th C.
The socket stone is of particular interest having the symbols of the four evangelists carved on its sides. It is 0.92m square and c. 0.42m high. The shaft is rectangular and 0.40 x 0.31m at the base. The full description is as follows:
The plinth is square in section, constructed of four stone slabs resting on a brick and stone foundation. On it stands the medieval socket stone, a limestone block square in section at the base with chamfered corners. The sides of the socket stone are carved with the symbols of the Four Evangelists in deep relief: on the north face an eagle (St John), with the head at the north west corner; on the west face a man (St Matthew), with an animal-like body, and the head at the south west corner; on the south face a lion (St Mark), the head on the south east corner; and on the east face an ox (St Luke), the head on the north east corner. Set into the top of the socket stone with concrete is the shaft, rectangular in section at the base and chamfered above to taper upwards in octagonal section. The head takes the form of a gabled cross carved with a representation of the Crucifixion on each main face and a shallow, trefoil-headed niche on each of the other two sides. The full height of the cross is nearly 4m.
