HER 5562 DESCRIPTION:- Listed Buildings Description: ASHLEWORTH THE GREEN SO 8025-8125 7/4 Cross II Cross. Probably C14, rebuilt on Green 1970's. Squared stone to base, ashlar above. Two tall square stone steps, square base with chamfered top, central 'V' stooling on each face. Above, square base reduced to octagon, tall, octagonal shaft. Square head, carved corbels at angles: Crucifixion with 3 figures on opposite faces, with trefoil head over and gables: single figures under trefoil heads on other sides. Remains found late C19 and re- erected in churchyard: moved to Green 1970. (D. Verey, Gloucestershire, the Vale and the Forest of Dean, 1970; notes in Church) Listing NGR: SO8122825500. {Source Works 344.} 5562/1 - A restored C14 cross known as the High Cross stands on the village green at the junction of the roads to Corse and Hasfield, some distance from the ancient church (which is situated nearer the River Severn). The cross consists of a fine shaft and lantern head on a 2 step base (its original base). The lantern head holds four figures, one showing the Crucifiction, the reverse shows the Virgin and Child with a young woman kneeling at one side. Both side niches hold figures although these are worn and are indistinguishable. The cross has had an eventful life, moving locations on several occasions. It appears that the head was found in the early C19 hidden in a chimney stack, having been placed there for safety in Cromwell's time. The shaft and head were then set up in the churchyard (while the original base still stood on the village green). In the 1970's a Mr F J Chamberlayne paid to have the shaft and head moved and replaced on its original base on the village green { Source Work 4973} . 1885 - There is a full description of the cross in the Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society for this year {Source Work 2815}. 2018 - This monument was previously recorded within the Historic England National Record of the Historic Environment. That record, formerly held within the AMIE database, included a the field investigator’s comments from 1969, stating that at that time the cross on the green comprised only the two stone base steps and a wooden shaft. This description is no longer current following the cross restoration in the 1970s. This record also offers a slight variation on the location of the rest of the cross prior to the late 19th century “The head was removed from a hearth stone and the shaft a gatepost and were restored and reconstructed in the church graveyard between 1885 and 1887. The cross was finally restored with base on the village green in the 1970s. (see Monument Number 115671). (5)” {Source Work 4249.} |