A lost cross . . . A cross base was reported in Aisthorpe churchyard in 1964, but nothing can now be found.
Alvingham
A lost cross . . . A stone cross base was recorded at Alvingham in 1963 but no trace can now be found.
Boston
No standing crosses survive in the town of Boston but there are several reports and some illustrations of market crosses that were once in the town.
Bourne
Mr. J. J. Davies in his book ‘Historic Bourne’, tells us that not a stone or trace of this cross remains. but there is a tradition in the town that its destruction took place in the year 1863.
Braceborough
We failed to find the cross base noted in the HER. We did notice an interesting stone immediately to the east of the south porch. This looks much more like a font than a cross base.
Burgh le Marsh
It is presumed that Burgh would have had a market cross, but no record exists. Davies presumably looked for it in 1915, for he writes: ‘The cross disappeared years ago, probably when the Market House was built’.
Butterwick
There is no surviving cross at Butterwick, but written reports of a cross to the east of the church survive:
Byard’s Leap
There is a report of a standing cross at Byard’s Leap in Stukeley’s Itinerarium Curiosum p. 87, ‘here is a cross of stone, and by it, four little holes made in the ground’. No cross survives today.
Coningsby
LOST CROSS Davies gives the following report of a cross base at Coningsby: Village Cross – The base of an old cross is to be seen in a public house yard at the east end of the village. The stone
Ewerby (2)
The Ewerby churchyard cross is reported by Revd Trollope (1872) when apparently the cross base still stood in the churchyard. Trollope states it bore the legend ‘Sumptu Rectoris fuit haec crux facta Johannis Haubergh, moeroris expers sit in omnibus annis’
Folkingham
Folkingham held a market charter from 1239 and the major feature of the town (now a village) was its long, thin market place lined with fine Georgian houses. It had a market cross but this seems to have been taken away in a town makeover around the 1790s. Creasey/Yerburgh (1825) writes: ‘In the middle of the market-place was a large pond, on each side of which were usually laid enormous piles of timber. Nearly opposite the Green Man public house, stood the Market-cross, Butchery, and Town-hall, which seemed to have been erected at a period when elegance and conveniency received little or no attention. On the opposite side of the market-place stood the House of Correction.’
Grantham (Apple Cross)
Grantham’s Apple Cross is a lost cross – it once stood on the market place to the west of St Wulfram’s church and recent research has attempted to reconstruct its form and to chart its extraordinary history.
Holbeach
Holbeach was an important Fenland market town. It was granted a market charter in 1252 and would have doubtless have erected a market cross to emphasise its prerogatives.
Horncastle
William Stukeley’s map of Horncastle, drawn c. 1722, shows a cross in the market place. This cross disappeared many years ago, however, one could argue there is still a cross in Horncastle market place, as the monument erected to the memory of Edward Stanhope in 1894 is a classic ‘spire-type’ cross, set in centre of the market place.
Kirkby on Bain
St Mary’s church at Kirkby on Bain was rebuilt in 1802, but there was a medieval church (possibly in ruins) on the site previously. Revd John Conway Walter states ‘on the south side (of the church) lies the square base of a churchyard cross, shorn of its shaft, probably by the reckless Puritans’.
Leasingham (1)
The Venerable Edward Trollope reports the sites of two lost crosses in Leasingham.
Lincoln (Medieval crosses)
Lincoln was a major medieval religious and economic centre. It must have possessed an abundance of standing crosses of every description and yet, with the exception of the small masonry fragment said to derive from Lincoln’s Eleanor Cross (now at Lincoln Castle), very few traces remain in relic or name.
Long Sutton
Quoting from Thomas Allen, Davies reports a place called ‘Sutton-two-crosses’ and also that ‘near the south-west angle of the churchyard in an angle of the road, is a base of a stone cross’. He could not find these crosses and neither could AP, who visited on 24 March 1994.
Louth
In 2015, two fragments from a decorated pre-Conquest cross were discovered in a rockery in Louth vicarage garden. Everson and Stocker’s analysis of these stones leads to the suggestion that they are part of a mid-tenth century cross erected to mark the bishop of Lindsey’s promotion of Louth and Louth market.
Miningsby
Neither a cross, nor now even a church, survive at Miningsby but there is trail of evidence to suggest a standing cross may once have been there.
Quarrington
There are records of TWO LOST CROSSES at Quarrington White’s Lincolnshire Directory of 1856 (p. 549), records the following: There were in the parish two ancient crosses, one of which (1) is still standing (five feet high) at the north
Ruskington
Lost Cross Parish/District Ruskington/North Kesteven Location opposite the churchyard gate Category Lost cross (Market cross?) National Grid Ref originally in vicinity of TF 08310 51068 Designation N/A Stone Type – Refs Trollope, Revd E., 1872, Sleaford etc, p, vii; Visits –
Skirbeck
Davies (1915) reports a churchyard cross with an octagonal base made of two stones with bevelled edges. This cross can no longer be located.
Sleaford (1)
Sleaford is one of Lincolnshire’s main market towns and was granted a market charter in 1154. There is a sizeable market place to the west of the church with documentary reports of a market cross of c.1575, removed around 1800.
Spalding
Spalding was an important market centre before the Conquest and that status has continued into the 20th century. A market charter for a Friday market was also granted in 1242. No market cross survives in the town today, but old maps show a cross in the Market Stead.
Springthorpe
Springthorpe is included as a lost cross (and a modern cross) and this record arises from an intriguing entry in the book English Church Furniture edited by Edward Peacock and published in 1866. One might hope and expect it to include many records of churchyard crosses destroyed, but sadly it does not – except for one curious footnote under the entry for Springthorpe. The footnote records a marginal comment made in the register by the Springthorpe churchwarden at the time : [1563] Roland Chambers of Kirton and Mabel Wilson were married 22 Nov and on the same night the cross in the cemetery was overthrown.
Stamford
Stamford is an important town and market centre developing from the late ninth century onwards, and the medieval town will have had a plethora of standing crosses – including an Eleanor Cross – but no trace of any medieval crosses remain today.
Temple Bruer
William Stukeley, writing in 1776 (p.87), reported: ‘Over against Temple Bruer is a cross upon a stone, cut through in the shape of that borne by the Knights Templars, and I suppose the boundary of their demesnes.’