The Sheffield Cross is an

Anglo-Saxon cross Anglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman ...

, dating from the early ninth century. It is the shaft of a stone high cross that was rediscovered hollowed out and in use as a quenching trough in a cutler's workshop in the Park district of Sheffield.

William Staniforth William Staniforth (1749-1834) was an English surgeon, notable for being one of the first surgeons at the Sheffield Royal Infirmary. William was the son of Samuel Staniforth (1725-1811) and Mary Ash. His brother Samuel (1747-1824) was a linen dr ...

removed the cross and kept it in his garden, before it was later donated to the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in 1924, where it is now kept. The shaft is carved with a

vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themsel ...

motif, a figure with a bow and arrow placed amidst the tendrils; similar figures are found on the

Ruthwell Cross The Ruthwell Cross is a stone Anglo-Saxon cross probably dating from the 8th century, when the village of Ruthwell, now in Scotland, was part of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria. It is the most famous and elaborate Anglo-Saxon monumental ...

and an ivory in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, and their significance has been much discussed.British Museum - Stone cross shaft
The head of the cross is missing. The style of the cross is

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era= Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ...

n, and it is the most northerly known example of this type. It resembles crosses from Bakewell and

Eyam Eyam () is an English village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales that lies within the Peak District National Park. There is evidence of early occupation by Ancient Britons on the surrounding moors and lead was mined in the area by the R ...

, and

David Hey David G. Hey (18 July 1938 – 14 February 2016) was an English historian, and was an authority on surnames and the local history of Yorkshire. Hey was the president of the British Association for Local History, and was a published author of seve ...

uses the similarity of the vine scrolls in the Eyam and Sheffield crosses to hypothesise a single craftsperson. At the time of its discovery the prevailing theory was that the Cross originally stood on the future site of Sheffield Parish Church (now Sheffield Cathedral). A cross outside the church is recorded to have been demolished in 1570 during the English Reformation. Another theory holds that it was originally from Derbyshire.Neville T. Sharpe, ''Crosses of the Peak District'' (Landmark Collectors Library, 2002) Several crosses in Sheffield survived the Reformation, including the Market Cross, Irish Cross and Townhead Cross, but all are now lost.

References

{{High cross Anglo-Saxon art Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England Christianity in Sheffield Medieval European objects in the British Museum High crosses in England Monumental crosses in England