Rey Cross

Rey Cross is the remains of a stone cross at Stainmore. It is also known as Rere Cross or Rear Cross and is a Grade II* listed structure[1] and a scheduled monument.[2]

Rey Cross

Purpose

Believed to have been ten feet tall, a long-held local legend states it was the burial place of Eric Bloodaxe, Viking Ruler of Northumbria.[3] However, Norman Davies posits that it was a "boundary stone . . . halfway between Penrith and Barnard Castle."[4]

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. '

Recent history

In the late 1980s the widening of route A66 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.[3][5]

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References
  1. Historic England. "REY CROSS (1323025)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  2. Historic England. "REY CROSS (1016467)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  3. Bibby, Andrew, and John Morrison. The Backbone of England: Landscape and Life on the Pennine Watershed, p. 166. London: Frances Lincoln, 2008. Google Books.
  4. Davies, Norman. "Alt Clud." Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations. New York: Viking, 2012. 72. Print.
  5. Vyner, Blaise, et al. Stainmore: The Archaeology of a North Pennine Pass, p. 118. Hartlepool: Tees Archaeology & English Heritage, 2001.

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