Cross (destroyed): OS Grid Reference – ST 999 108
Archaeology & History
In days of olde an old stone cross used to stand “at the crossroads just outside the churchyard,” wrote Alfred Pope (1906); but even in his day he told that “the cross has long since disappeared.” He continued:
“The Rev A.S.B. Freer, vicar, informs the writer that the site is still known as ‘The Cross’, and is never called by any other name by the villagers.”
The church in the village is dedicated to All Saints, whose festival date was known in older times to be the pre-christian New Year’s Eve, or Halloween, when the spirits of the dead move across the landscape.
References:
- Pope, Alfred, The Old Stone Crosses of Dorset, Chiswick Press: London 1906.
© Paul Bennett, The Northern Antiquarian
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