Milestones, Boundary Markers, Historical Artifacts, Street Furniture, lost roads and buildings.

There are many traces of our ancestors scattered around our landscape. Mile Markers and Boundary stones are there too. The Milestone Society believes that there are approximately 9000 left in the United Kingdom. Some are cherished but others are hidden in hedgerows, some have been unwittingly destroyed by crashes, road equipment or even stolen. Roads have been straightened to make them safer. There are old gateposts still left in place, old buildings, and place names that declare an evocative past. The aim is to capture some of this information at least photographically before it disappears.

Although the Fylde Coast does not have ancient history, the Romans apparently struggled to Kirkham. There have been huge changes in the last two centuries from literally a a few fishermans' and agricultural dwellings, to a full blown tourist and light engineering industry.

More historical information can be found here about the Fylde coast.

It also seems that time has marched on and left what appears to be some very respectable buildings... which just should be used, but seem to have no worth.

Links from this Blog

Nearly-Midnight The genealogy website relating to the family. A tangled web of people all related to one another, explore!
Memorials Website dedicated to War Memorials - The majority in the North of England. Visits to churches, but also memorials in out of the way places.
Robert Clark The Father of Henry Martyn-Clark - A missionary out in the North-West Frontier of India. One of the first Europeans to set foot in Afganistan
Affetside Census
A small village north of Bury, Lancashire, I can trace many of my immediate ancesters from there. On the Roman Road, Watling Street
Andrew Martyn-Clark My Father and his part in my World. Also my mother and his parents too.
Henry Martyn-Clark My Great Grandfather, his roots and his achievements. Discusses malaria but also his confrontations with Islam.

Sunday 23 October 2011

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.



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