Bewcastle Cross

#453 among destinations in the United Kingdom

Memorial

Gallery (9)

Map

Gallery

Photo details 1. Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Doug Sim / URL • 2. Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Dougsim / URL • 3. Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Dougsim / URL • 4. Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Dougsim / URL • 5. Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Dougsim / URL • 6. Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Mike Quinn / URL • 7. Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Mike Quinn / URL

Facts and practical information

The Bewcastle Cross is an Anglo-Saxon cross which is still in its original position within the churchyard of St Cuthbert's church at Bewcastle, in the English county of Cumbria. The cross, which probably dates from the 7th or early 8th century, features reliefs and inscriptions in the runic alphabet. The head of the cross is missing but the remains are 14.5 feet high, and almost square in section 22 × 21¼ inches at the base. The crosses of Bewcastle and Ruthwell have been described by the scholar Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest achievement of their date in the whole of Europe". ()

Alternative names: Coordinates: 55°3'49"N, 2°40'55"W

Location

EnglandUnited Kingdom

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Day trips

Bewcastle Cross – popular in the area (distance from the attraction)

Nearby attractions include: Birdoswald Roman Fort, Bewcastle Castle, Askerton Castle, Banna.

6 miSE
Museum
Birdoswald Roman Fort, Brampton
154 min walk • Birdoswald Roman Fort was known as Banna in Roman times, reflecting the geography of the site on a triangular spur of land bounded by cliffs to the south and east commanding a broad meander of the River Irthing in Cumbria below.
~370 ftN
Forts and castles
Bewcastle Castle
2 min walk • Bewcastle Castle is a ruined castle in the parish of Bewcastle in the English county of Cumbria, a few miles from the Scottish border.
3.4 miS
Forts and castles
Askerton Castle
88 min walk • Askerton Castle is a medieval fortified manor house in Cumbria, England.
6 miSE
Area
Banna, Hadrian's Wall
154 min walk • Birdoswald Roman Fort was known as Banna in Roman times, reflecting the geography of the site on a triangular spur of land bounded by cliffs to the south and east commanding a broad meander of the River Irthing in Cumbria below.
6.7 miSE
Area
Milecastle 48, Hadrian's Wall
171 min walk • Milecastle 48, is a milecastle on Hadrian's Wall. Its remains lie near the village of Gilsland in Cumbria where it was historically known as "The King's Stables", owing to the well-preserved interior walls. Unusually a substantial section of stone stairs has survived within the milecastle.
6.1 miSE
Area
Milecastle 49, Hadrian's Wall
156 min walk • Milecastle 49 was a milecastle on Hadrian's Wall.
6.2 miSE
Church
St Mary Magdalene's Church, Hadrian's Wall
158 min walk • St Mary Magdalene’s Church is a small mid-Victorian Anglican church on an isolated hillside in north-east Cumbria, England.
5.9 miSE
Area
Milecastle 50, Hadrian's Wall
151 min walk • Milecastle 50 was a milecastle on Hadrian's Wall.
7.4 miSE
Area
Milecastle 47, Hadrian's Wall
189 min walk • Milecastle 47 was a milecastle on Hadrian's Wall.
6 miSE
Area
Milecastle 50TW, Hadrian's Wall
152 min walk • Milecastle 50TW was a milecastle on the Turf Wall section of Hadrian's Wall. The milecastle is located close to the Birdoswald Roman Fort and is unique in that it was not replaced by a stone milecastle when the turf wall was upgraded to stone, the replacement wall instead running some 200m to the north.
5.9 miSE
Rock, Nature
Popping Stone, Hadrian's Wall
150 min walk • The Popping Stone is a group of three rounded boulders in the Irthing Gorge near the village of Gilsland. It was not always this shape, however, and photographs from before 1870 show a single, much larger stone that must have been drastically altered soon after this date.