
Parish/District | Washingborough/North Kesteven |
Location | on a small green to the east of the parish church |
Category | Village cross |
National Grid Ref | TF 01926 70618 |
Designation | Scheduled / Listed II |
Stone Type | Limestone |
Refs | AP Survey 11 Nov 1993; Davies, D S, 1913, Lincs Notes and Queries, Vol XII No.5, p.149 |
Visits | AP: 11 Nov 1993 | DS/HH: 23 July 2012 |
Washingborough did not hold a market charter, but its village cross has all the stature of a good market cross. Four substantial steps and a large socket stone with a tolerable Edwardian restoration of shaft and cross-head.
There is a charming painting by the Revd Sibthorp of the cross in the mid 19th century – prior to restoration (see below) – which shows that the base and socket stone have not been substantially altered by the successive restorations and repairs.
The cross was restored in 1903 by Miss Margaret Anne Curtois (a celebrated Victorian author) as a memorial to her mother, who had lived at Washingborough Manor. It was repaired again in 1947 by local Councillor George Applewhite – after which it became the focus of war memorial activity in annual remembrance services, even though it had never actually been designated as a memorial. This function continues to the present day.
The cross is square in plan with four steps that measure 3.5m, 2.9m 2.26m and 1.5m square, consecutively. The steps are constructed of worn limestone blocks around a mortared rubble core and the edges of the three lower steps are slightly chamfered. They include notches, some containing iron fragments, which indicate that the steps were formerly partly clamped together. A stone slab in the eastern face of the lowest step has the inscription: RESTORED BY COUNCILLOR GEO. H. APPLEWHITE 1947
The socket stone is set on the top step. It is 0.86m square and approximately 0.57m high; the corners are moulded and chamfered so that the top of the stone is octagonal in section.
The cross shaft and cross-head are modern, dating from the 1903 restoration. The shaft is of rectangular section at the base rising through chamfered corners to an ornamented knop; above it is the cross-head, which takes the form of a stone crucifix with traceried decoration in the angles.

Newspaper report in the Lincolnshire Echo of 2 July 1903 describing the restoration of Washingbprough village cross by Margaret Curtois


