The Hackness Cross is an Anglo-Saxon

high cross A high cross or standing cross (, , ) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. Th ...

Hackness Hackness is a village and civil parish in the district and county of North Yorkshire, England. It lies within the North York Moors National Park. The parish population rose from 125 in the 2001 UK census to 221 in the 2011 UK census. From 19 ...

, a village in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, in England. The cross was carved some time between the late 7th and early 9th centuries. It may be associated with a nunnery which

Hilda of Whitby Hilda of Whitby (or Hild; c. 614 – 680) was a saint of the early Church in Britain. She was the founder and first abbess of the monastery at Whitby which was chosen as the venue for the Synod of Whitby in 664. An important figure in the Chri ...

founded in the village in about 680, and might have stood in a side-valley known as Crossdales. The cross was later dismantled; local legend claims that it was thrown into the village pond. Before 1848, two stones from the cross were found in an outbuilding of Hackness Hall, one perhaps having seen use as a gate post. In 1859, these fragments were placed in the chancel of St Peter's Church, Hackness. The two stones were not originally adjacent, but have been placed on display one atop the other. The cross would have been about 1.75 metres high, although the two fragments are just 96 cm and 45 cm tall, respectively. They are made of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

, probably sourced from the local area and are now both very worn. Despite this, they have attracted a great deal of attention for their five separate inscriptions, in four different scripts. The Latin letters can be partly interpreted, stating in Latin "Oedilburga blessed for ever". Not enough survives of the text in Anglo-Saxon

rune Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see '' futhark'' vs ''runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were primarily used to represent a sound value (a ...

s to interpret it, while a tentative translation of part of the '' Hahalruna'' again refers to Oedilburga. There is also a text in an unknown script with some similarities to

Ogham Ogham (also ogam and ogom, , Modern Irish: ; , later ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish language ( scholastic ...

. Other carvings include plant scrolls, which may imitate the

volute A volute is a spiral, scroll-like ornament that forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column. It was later incorporated into Corinthian order and Composite column capitals. Four are normally to be found on an ...

s of the

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic classical order, orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric order, Doric and the Corinthian order, Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan order, Tuscan (a plainer Doric) ...

;

knotwork A knot is an intentional complication in cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including hitches, bends, loop knots, and splices: a ''hitch'' fastens a rope to another object; a ...

; faces; and beasts, perhaps griffons. While the work is ambitious and the cross was of high status, it is less well executed than similar cross at

Bewcastle Bewcastle is a large civil parish in the Cumberland unitary authority area of Cumbria, England. It is in the historic county of Cumberland. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 411, reducing to 391 at the 2011 Census. ...

Ruthwell Ruthwell is a village and parish on the Solway Firth between Dumfries and Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. In 2022 the combined population of Ruthwell and nearby Clarencefield was 400. Thomas Randolph, Earl ...

and Easby.

References

{{High cross Anglo-Saxon runes Runestones in the United Kingdom Inscriptions in unknown languages High crosses in England 8th-century inscriptions Hackness