Sandbach Crosses

The Sandbach Crosses are in the market place in the town of Sandbach, Cheshire, England (gbmapping|SJ759608).cite web |url=http://www2.cheshire.gov.uk/Archaeology/RCP/sandbach.htm |title=Revealing Cheshire's Past: Saxon places to visit |accessdate=2007-10-12 |publisher=Cheshire County Council ] They are recognised as a Grade I listed building.cite web |url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/search/details.aspx?pid=1&id=56244 |title=Images of England: Sandbach crosses |accessdate=2007-07-17 |publisher=English Heritage ]

One opinion about the origin of the crosses is that they were erected to commemorate the conversion to Christianity of Peada of Mercia about 653.cite book | last =Richards | first =Raymond | title =Old Cheshire Churches | publisher =Batsford | date =1947 | location =London | pages =290] [cite web |url=http://www.thornber.net/cheshire/htmlfiles/sandbach1.html |title=A Scrapbook of Cheshire Antiquities: Sandbach: The Saxon Crosses|accessdate=2007-10-12 |last=Thornber |first=Craig |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year=2005 |month= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= ] Other sources date them to the 9th century.cite web |url=http://www.sandbach.gov.uk/Guide/Crosses.htm |title=Saxon Crosses |accessdate=2007-10-12 |publisher=Sandbach Town Council ] The original site of the crosses is unknown and it is believed that they were brought to Sandbach in the Middle Ages. The earliest documentary evidence is by William Smith, a herald, who stated they were in the market place in 1585. Either after the Reformation or during the Civil War they were thrown down and their parts were scattered over a wide area. Larger pieces of the crosses were found as far away as Oulton and Tarporley while smaller pieces were found on various sites in Sandbach. In the early 19th century they were collected together and in 1816 were reassembled and erected under the direction of George Ormerod, the Cheshire historian.

The crosses now consist of two upright columns set in sockets on a base of three stepped stones. The northern cross is the taller and has a mutilated head. The southern cross is truncated and has a mutilated head from a different cross. The crosses have always been a pair and were carved by the same hand. They depict religious scenes, doll-like heads and beasts in panels, together with vine-scrolls, course interlace patterns and some dragons. [cite book | last =Pevsner | first =Nikolaus | authorlink =Nikolaus Pevsner | coauthors =Edward Hubbard | title =The Buildings of England: Cheshire |edition= | publisher =Yale University Press| date =2003| origyear=1971| location =New Haven & London| pages =12 | url = | doi = | id = | isbn =0 300 09588 0 ]

Notes