| Parish/District | North Kyme/North Kesteven |
| Location | At a wide road junction in the centre of North Kyme – junction of Main Street (A153) and Church Lane |
| Category | Village cross |
| National Grid Ref | TF 15165 52668 |
| Designation | Scheduled / Listed II |
| Stone Type | Limestone |
| Refs | AP Survey 30 Nov 1993; Davies, D S, 1913, Lincs N & Q, Vol XII No.5, p.145. |
| Visits | AP: 30 Nov 1993 | DS/HH: 23 July 2012 |
There is a village cross (known locally as the Butter Cross) on what was probably once the village green – now the wide junction of Main Street (A153) and Church Lane – in the centre of North Kyme. There are two steps with a socket stone and a shaft in two sections – the whole monument is complete, but in two different types of stone.
When I was first in Lincolnshire (1980s) I used to think this a fine survival of a village cross – not realising that it had been extensively restored over 200 years ago. Nattes drew North Kyme cross in 1805, showing it with fragmentary steps and only a stump of shaft. He included the adjacent village stocks.
In 1821, the cross was rebuilt with new steps and an additional upper section, with a pyramidal top, added to the shaft. Davies, writing in 1913, reports an inscription (IT 1821) on the restored cross, but we have been unable to find it. Apparently, it was repaired again in 1954 and the local school buried a ‘time capsule’ beneath it.
The steps are constructed of mortared limestone blocks. They are roughly square in plan, and vertical holes in the top of some of the blocks indicate the former position of iron clamps. The lower step is c. 2.07 x 2.07m and is now partly buried in the tarmac. The upper step is c.1.40 x 1.43m and c.0.32m high.
The socket stone is c. 0.83 x 0.83m by 0.49m high. It has plain corners with slight chamfers (possibly just wear) to the edges. There are four irregular holes near the corners.
The shaft is set into the middle of the socket-stone with mortar and lead. It is composed of two stones; the lower (0.81m high) is quadrangular in section at the base (c. 0.40 x 0.34m) and has chamfered corners which taper upwards in octagonal section; the upper tapers in rounded, octagonal section and then widens to form the knop. Vertical slots indicate the position of iron clamps which formerly held the two parts of the shaft together. There are several filled-in holes in the shaft. Above the knop is the cross-head, in the form of a four-sided cone with a flattened top. The full height of the cross is approximately 3m.
It seems likely that the medieval elements of the cross are: parts of the steps, the socket stone and the lower part of the shaft.
Detail of chamfered shaft corners and holes in socket stone (left) and the remains of previous shaft repair clamps (right)
