Stancombe Cross

I drove up from the Stroud valleys to the top of the Cotswold plateau to go to the farm shop to stock up on vegetables, fruit and eggs. Approaching the village of Bisley I saw that the very tall vegetation on the grass verge had been mown right down and had properly revealed the ancient stone cross which had become obscured. Om my return journey I stopped a hundred yards away in an entrance to the field behind this stone wall.

It was hard to photograph as I only had a long telephoto lens on my camera and couldn’t get far enough away to include the whole monument from the front. So I pulled out my phone to rescue the situation. Another time I’d concentrate on its stone surface withits many lichens and markings.

The sign reads:

THE CROSS-SHAFT
The square shaft and a base-member of a now
headless Saxon cross. of the tall northern 
type (Bewcastle Cross), dating c AD 700 once
carved with tiers of holy figures within
square and round-headed niches. Probably
brought from Stancombe cross-roads, c1820
for use as a Bisley Parish boundary stone.
Recognised 1928, and since restored and
protected by the Gloucestershire County 
Council.


ST. C. B.