| Parish/District | Haxey/North Lincs |
| Location | on the pavement at the edge of the modern road, at the eastern end of the churchyard of St Nicholas Church, approximately 50m to the east of the church |
| Category | Village cross (now Mounting Block) |
| National Grid Ref | SK 76517 99841 |
| Designation | Scheduled / Listed II |
| Stone type | Limestone |
| Refs | Davies, D. S., 1915, Lincs N & Q, Vol XIII No.5, pp149-152 |
| Visits | DS/HH 4 June 2008 |
This cross is at the east end of the church just beyond the churchyard wall on the pavement edge. It is known as Lady Mowbray’s Stone and is a large medieval socket stone reused as a horse mounting block with rough steps added at the sides and modern brick repairs. It is adjacent to the churchyard and you can’t help but wonder if it was a churchyard cross moved out to its present secular position for a new role?
These days, it is famous as the place where the Haxey Hood game (6th Jan) starts – Here, the ‘Fool’ stands and makes the declaration that starts the game and is ‘smoked’ – these days by lighting damp straw behind the cross base.
The cross base is 0.65m square and 0.4m high, with corners chamfered to form an octagonal upper section. On its north side it has one step, east side one step, south side two steps and west side no steps.
The top of the stone shows the lead lining of a rectangular socket although the top of the stone is completely smooth and the shaft must be of the same stone as the base as there is no indication of its presence other than the rectangle of lead.
