Singleton Cross remains

I visited Singleton, almost by accident. I was on the way to Poulton from St Annes. I could see the church in the distance off the road. Turned right off the main road, the church is 300 yards from the turn. 2 lych gates and a carpark. Entered the church did the photography and chatted to the lady outside. There is always a hesitant moment whilst they try and figure out what you are up to! However my eye caught this object by the entrance. She told me it was a birdbath!

The link to the memorials in the church is here.There is a further link to the church and other views of Singleton here

However I said I was fairly confident that it was the remains of a socket for a cross. It had seemed that this was originally down the road, probably at the cross roads. At the time I did feel I had stumbled onto something quite unusual. I have crosses on this blog. However it seems that English Heritage have a record and it was sited in the churchyard at least in 1957. Here is the link to English Heritage.

Taken from the pathway as you enter the church.
The object is approx 18 inches across and about 12 inches high

It is clear that there is a rectangular post hole in the middle of this pedestal

There are 8 clearly defined sides to the pedestal.
The pedestal is "worn" or broken on one side.
Further investigation would possibly show the reason

I would suspect that this pedestal would be sitting on more
stonework. Any sizable cross would be unbalanced.
Difficult to see if the hole went through to the bottom.

There are other wayside crosses in the area, notably at Wrea Green.
The Northern Antiquarian Forum is a fascinating place for these objects. These pix and reference will be referred to them.