Browse crosses

 
Bude Lane Cross Location:  On the North side of the old A30, about one mile to the West of Sticklepath, at the junction of the lane that leads to Bude Farm.

Grid Ref:  631 948          Map location: Click here to view map.

Purpose:  Not known.

Size:  The stone is 4 feet 1 inch (1.25 metres) tall, 1 foot 4 inches (0.41 metres) wide at the bottom, tapering to 10 inches (0.26 metres) at the top. 7½ inches (0.19 metres) in depth.

Information:  This is one of two stones in the Sticklepath area that are thought to be Saxon Crosses, of a similar style to that of the Sourton Green Cross. The other is the Sticklepath (Ladywell) Cross, which is situated nearer to the centre of the village. Both are currently acting as boundary markers for the village. This stone appears to be undamaged except at the top, which is irregular and shows signs of having been broken off relatively recently.

Unfortunately, the markings on this cross are not as clear as those on the Sourton Green Cross. The only ones that are clearly visible are on the Southern, roadside, face. Here, a seven pointed asterisk shape is incised about half way down the stone. There is another line lower down on this face, but I couldn’t, at first, determine its significance.

Research shows that, originally, there were markings on three faces of this cross but, with the exception of those set out above, they appear to have weathered or faded away over the years. The original markings on each face were described as follows:

Northern Face: This face originally contained the clearest engravings, which extended from the top to the bottom of the stone. Starting from the top, there was a circle 1½ inches in diameter, of which the upper arc was missing due to a previous fracture of the top of the stone. This was followed by another circle of the same size and a third circle, this latter being rather larger at 11 inches in diameter. At the bottom was a St. Andrew’s Cross, the arms of which used the full width of the face and with the shaft reaching almost to the base of the stone.
 
Eastern Face: This showed a number of lines with a faint resemblance to an imperfect human figure, with a halo around its head. This consisted of a segment of a circle, convex surface uppermost, towards the top of the stone (halo). A few inches below this was a circle of 5 inches in diameter (head), followed by an oval (body), 7 inches long and with the upper portion obliterated. Two waved lines (legs) appeared from the bottom of the oval, similar in shape but a mirror image of each other. These both terminated at each edge of the stone, about 12 inches above the ground.
 
Southern Face: No markings were recorded for the top half of the stone. The lower half had three semicircles, with the curved sides adjacent to and equidistant from each other; Two side by side and the third above.
 
Western Face: No markings were recorded for this face. It is not known if it has always been plain or if there were some markings, which had already faded away before the significance of this stone was realised.

Taking the above description into account and the clarity of the incised asterisk, it is now obvious this must be a fairly recent addition to the stone. However, the lower line that can be seen on the same face may well be part of one of the semicircles described above.

Mr Spence Bate recorded in 1874 that the stone was 4 feet 6 inches high and that it had been broken off at the top. My measurement is now 4 feet 1 inch, some 5 inches shorter, and the top shows signs of a relatively recent fracture. This would indicate that it has been further damaged within the last 125 years.