The term ‘standing cross‘ has come to encompass a variety of structures with a range of names. Most commonly, you will encounter churchyard crosses, village crosses and market crosses. But you will also find several other cross types mentioned, such as high crosses, preaching crosses, boundary crosses (or stones) and wayside crosses. Further variants include weeping crosses and plague stones (which are often socket stones). Explanations for most of these terms are given below and they are all mentioned, to a greater or lesser extent, in the gazetteer pages.
A remarkable standing cross phenomenon, which occurred in the late 13th century, was the erection of the Eleanor Crosses by Edward I to mourn the death of his wife Queen Eleanor. Three of these commemorative crosses were erected in Lincolnshire. Follow the link to ‘Eleanor Crosses’ below for more details.
A brief description and discussion of some of these cross types is given in the pages accessed from the buttons below. The listing for Lincolnshire’s pre-conquest crosses is included in the ‘High Crosses’ page. War memorials based on, or using components of, medieval standing crosses are included under ‘Modern Crosses’.
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