Rey Cross is the remains of a stone cross at Stainmore. It is also known as Rere Cross and is a Grade II* listed structure[1] and a scheduled monument.[2] It is located towards the western edge of County Durham, approximately 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) east of the border with Cumbria along the A66 road.
[3][a][b]
Rey Cross was ordered by Edmund I (r.939-946) to serve as a boundary marker between England and Scotland. [4][c][d]
Legendedit
Eric Bloodaxeedit
A long-held local legend states that the cross was the burial place of Eric Bloodaxe, Viking Ruler of Northumbria.[5] However, Norman Davies posits that it was a "boundary stone . . . halfway between Penrith and Barnard Castle."[6]
The antiquarian W. G. Collingwood (1854 – 1932) suggested that the cross might have been commissioned to commemorate the Norwegian Viking king Eric Bloodaxe.
[e]
The antiquarian W. G. Collingwood (1854 – 1932) [f]
examined the cross and concluded that it was an English-Style wheel-cross
[g]
with figured decoration from about the 10th century.
[h][i]
The element ' Rei ' is from Old Norse ' hreyr ' : ( ” cairn, burial place ” )
[p]
The Scots version of the name, which became the name we know today, was based on the legend that the Norwegian Viking king Eric Bloodaxe had been buried there.
[q][r]
Geographyedit
Natural England mapsedit
Maps for Rey Cross and the surrounding area, showing Access, Administrative Geographies and other criteria from Natural England:
Unlike many other Roman roads its route is well known since it was largely defined by the topography of the Stainmore pass through the Pennine chain. The modern A66 road follows most of the route of the original Roman road for the same reason.
During the 10th century the extent of the land ruled variously by Northumbria, Strathclyde and Jórvík changed frequently; the Kingdom of Strathclyde was probably at its largest extent c.940 A.D.
[aw]
In The Lives of the Saints, St. Margaret of Scotland this is written: "and soon the Norman agreed to a peace on these conditions, that he should restore Sibert, earl of Northumberland and leave Cumberland as formerly to the Scots, that he should treat Prince Edgar as his friend, and that the boundaries of the two kingdoms should be Kings Cross on Stanemoor, between Richmondshire and Cumberland which should have the statues and arms of the two kings of England and Scotland on each side." And from Buik of the Chronicles of Scotland, Border Exploits: "King William soon concluded a treaty with Malcolm, wherein it was agreed that a Stone Cross erected on Stanemoor, bearing the arms of the two kingdoms, should form the exact march betwixt England and Scotland." [citation needed]
Original site of the crossedit
The exact location of the original site of the cross is not known. It has been re-sited at least twice, most recently during road widening (1990-1992), and previously in 1887.
[bg]
Recent historyedit
In the late 1980s the widening of the A66 road was planned through Stainmore. In 1990 the cross was lifted from its then position to the south of the road within the Rey Cross Roman Marching Camp and an excavation of the ground underneath was performed. No bones were found at the site, although it remains possible that Eric's burial might be elsewhere on the Stainmore moors. During the road widening works the cross was moved to the Bowes Museum for safekeeping. After completion of the road works in 1992 the monument was re-sited to its current position which is easily accessible from a layby in the road.[5][21]
^ The Dark Ages (Michael Wood) " . . . commissioned by sympathisers in York to commemorate their king. . . " [7]
^ See W. G. Collingwood > Life >
By the 1890s Collingwood had become a skilled painter and also joined the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. . .
^ The Dark Ages (Michael Wood) . . . W. G. Collingwood identified this as an English-Style wheel-cross with figured decoration. . . [7]
^ There is a slight flare at the top of the stump that suggests the start
of the base of a wheel.
^ WiKtionary : Middle English < hospital > A hostel or guesthouse; a place of accommodation or lodging.
^ Scalacronica
. . . according to the Scala cronica (1280) . . . It is there called the Reir Croiz de Staynmore and the hospital
[j]
, being near, was occasionally called Rerecross hospital but more commonly the Spital on Stainmoor . . . [4]
^ Britannia by William Camden (1551–1623)
" . . . Stanemore, all the country around being a desart, except an inn to entertain travellers in the very middle of this stoney waste, and near it a fragment of a cross which we call Rerecrosse, and the Scots Reicrosse. "
(fn. 14) [8]
^ The Northern Counties (Nick Higham)Agricola[af]inherited a sound base in Cheshire and Yorkshire but little further north.If Carlisle was not already built, the first timber fort must have been Agricolan. . . . We must assume that communications were maintained with the south via the Lune Valleyand via Stainmore to York, and that the major roads along these routes were at least put in hand by Agricola. [16]
^
Roman treasures found on A1 (Highways England, April 2017)
The excavations have also led to the unearthing of a major Roman settlement at Scotch Corner which pre-dates settlements in York and Carlisle by 10 years.
This tells us that the Romans had a major presence and even possibly began their
territorial expansion into northern England a decade earlier than previously thought.
[17]
^ The Peace of Eamont was signed at Eamont Bridge near Penrith, Cumbria. See Kingdom of England > On 12 July 927, the various Anglo-Saxon kings swore their allegiance to Æthelstan of Wessex. . ..
^ WiKtionary : Middle English < hospital > A hostel or guesthouse; a place of accommodation or lodging.
^ Scalacronica . . .from a boundary stone, the pre-Norman stump of which still remains, and which, according to the Scala cronica (1280), was fixed by King Edward (died 946)
[ba]
as the boundary between England and Scottish Cumberland. (fn. 1) It is there called the Reir Croiz de Staynmore and the hospital
[bb]
, being near, was occasionally called Rerecross hospital but more commonly the Spital on Stainmoor. . .[4]
^Chester Roman Fort - 973 A.D. (Alistair Moffat)
Kenneth II . . .almost certainly came to the Roman fortress to reach an agreement with Edgar. . .Kenneth II had his possession of Lothian confirmed. And it seems likely that the inclusion of Cumbria in the Kingdom of Strathclyde was agreed, the frontier reaching down to the Rere Cross on Stainmore.[19]
^ See Máel Coluim, King of Strathclyde > Certainly by 973, Máel Coluim was associated with the kingship, as both he and his father are recorded to have participated in a remarkable meeting of kings assembled by Edgar, King of the English.
^ The Lake Counties (W. G. Collingwood 1854 – 1932)
. . . the Rey (Rere) Cross, in the eleventh century the boundary between Scotland and England, probably erected in the tenth century as a grave monument, re-erected in 1887. (Revised by Rollinson 1987). . .The area is currently under threat from road widening schemes.[20]
^ abBibby, Andrew, and John Morrison. The Backbone of England: Landscape and Life on the Pennine Watershed, p. 166. London: Frances Lincoln, 2008. Google Books.
^Davies, Norman. "Alt Clud." Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations. New York: Viking, 2012. 72. Print.
Clark Hall, John R. (1916). A Concise Anglo−Saxon Dictionary, Second Edition. The Macmillan Company.
Downloads
Page, W.H., ed. (1974). 'Hospitals: Rerecross, Richmond and Ripon', in A History of the County of York: Volume 3. Victoria County History. British History Online. pp. 321–330. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
Page, W.H., ed. (1914). 'Parishes: Bowes', in A History of the County of York North Riding: Volume 1. Victoria County History. British History Online. pp. 42–49. Retrieved 1 October 2022.