Monument record MDO4319 - Medieval cross, Cornhill Cottage, Melbury Abbas

A stone cross base, probably of a 15th-century wayside cross, stands in the garden of Cornhill Cottage. The record for this monument has been enhanced with support from Wessex Water.

(ST 86602039) Mutilated 15th century cross base. <1>

The socket stone is 0.8m. square at the base; the top has broached corners, and the socket hole is 0.3m. square and 0.15m deep. The stone is typical of the late Medieval cross bases common in the district. It is now used to ornament the garden of a collage. No information was obtained locally regarding the original site, but it was perhaps a wayside cross situated at the cross-roads within a few metres of its present remains. <2>

<1> Colquhoun, F D, Field Investigators Comments FDC, F1 FDC 11-JAN-55 (Unpublished document). SWX2609.

<1.1> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, RCHM Mss file (Unpublished document). SDO18524.

<2> Quinnell, N V, Various, Field Investigators Comments NVQ, F2 NVQ 23-JAN-56 (Unpublished document). SDO11903.

<3> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1972, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume IV (North), 47 (Monograph). SDO99.

'(2) Cross Base (86602038), probably of a 15th-century wayside cross, stands in the garden of Cornhill Cottage. It is of stone, 2½ ft. square and nearly 2 ft. high, and has a mortice 1 ft. square for the foot of the shaft, now gone. Pyramidal stops bring the square to an octagon at the top.'

<4> National Record of the Historic Environment, 206517 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 16 2022 2:43PM