| Parish/District | Scredington/North Kesteven |
| Location | on the east side of the Roman road, Mareham Lane, on the north western edge of the parish of Scredington |
| Category | Boundary cross |
| National Grid Ref | TF 08426 42039 |
| Designation | Scheduled / Listed II |
| Stone Type | Limestone |
| Refs | AP Survey: 3 Dec 1993; Trollope, E, 1872, Sleaford etc p. 39; White’s 1856 Directory, pp. 549-50; Pevsner, N, 1989, Lincolnshire, p.629; Davies, D S, 1913, Lincs N & Q, Vol XII No.5, p.133; Davies, D S, 1916, Lincs N & Q, Vol XIV, pp. 21-31 and pp.55-64 |
| Visits | AP: 3 Dec 1993 | DS/HH: 20 Dec 2000 |
The cross on Mareham Lane has been variously described as a Roman milestone, a pilgrim cross and a wayside cross but is almost certainly a boundary cross – Mareham Lane, a Roman road, forms the western boundary of the parish of Scredington and the cross is positioned close to the point where the four parish boundaries of Burton Pedwardine, Aswarby, Silk Willoughby and Scredington meet.
The earliest reference to the cross is in White’s 1856 Directory which states:’ In a field where there was formerly a lake or mere, is a Roman mile-stone, now called mere-stone.’ It is mentioned (and drawn) in Trollope (1872) which says: ‘Between the last named parish [Aswarby] and Burton the base and part of the shaft of a medieval boundary cross stands by the side of the road. . .’
This cross can be hard to find because its location is now a ditch by the side of Mareham Lane and it is barely visible from the road. It has a quadrangular socket stone, the upper surface of which measures c.0.8m square and includes traces of a stepped chamfer. The remainder of the base is buried.
The shaft is set into the middle of the socket stone. Its lowest part is of plain rectangular section and was concealed by the original upper surface of the socket-stone, but is now visible due to erosion and damage. The main part of the shaft is roughly rectangular in section c. 0.41m x 0.21m. Each corner is moulded in the form of a part-octagonal shaft; on the shorter, north and south, faces the columns are immediately adjacent, while on the east face they are linked by another shaft of rounded section with a quirk on each side. The west face is largely plain, with a bench-mark in the lower part and two small holes above. The top of the shaft has been roughly rounded off and includes further holes. The full height of the shaft above the base is c.0.81m.
The drawing of the stone in Trollope shows a cross shape formed of indentations – some of these holes are still visible but the cross pattern is now lost. The later benchmark (10cm high) is clearly visible in the photograph (below) taken by Ethel Rudkin in 1932.
