There are several carved Saxon stone fragments built into the fabric of St Clement’s church at Rowston – further information on these is in the Everson and Stocker Corpus HERE

Parish/District | Rowston/North Kesteven |
Location | on a small green at the road junction c.150m south of St Clement’s church |
Category | Village cross (restored 1910) |
National Grid Ref | TF 08409 56309 |
Designation | Scheduled / Listed II |
Stone Type | Limestone |
Refs | AP Survey 2 Dec 1993; Davies, D S, 1913, Lincs N & Q, Vol XII No.5, p.146 |
Visits | AP:2 Dec 1993 | DS/HH:29 June 2006 |
Rowston is a good example of a village cross surviving on a small fragment of village green – which it presently shares with a mature tree. It has two steps surmounted by a socket stone with a fragment of shaft. Davies records an inscription on the bottom step ‘Restored 1910’ – Some of the procedures undertaken in that restoration (notably repairs to the steps) are evident, but are now failing.
The base is made of two steps: the lower is c.1.65m square and constructed of rectangular slabs resting on coursed rubble. The tops of the slabs forming the south west and north west corners each have a circular hole about 0.3m in diameter, now filled in with cement and clearly date from the 1910 restoration. At the time of survey (2006) one of the slabs forming this step on the east side was missing – and recent photos suggest that is still the case.
The upper step is c.1.05m square and constructed of a single rectangular slab, probably of medieval date, with later repairs on the east side. The limestone socket stone rests on this step. It is a single block c.0.76m square and 0.37m tall, with slightly chamfered corners. It has later repairs underneath.
The shaft is c.0.29m square at the base, chamfered to an octagonal section. It survives to a height of 0.75m terminating with a flat top with a small depression in the centre. It is set into the socket with mortar and is in very poor condition with a portion on the south east side broken away and missing. At the time of our survey, a local person told us that ‘part of cross in a nearby garden, but now lost’ – but this is more likely to refer to missing parts of the restored steps than to the missing shaft fragment.
Rowston cross is much in need of another phase of repair and restoration.
