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Rey Cross, Durham
Rey Cross
Roy Cross
county:-   Durham
locality type:-   cross
coordinates:-   NY904123
1Km square:-   NY9012
10Km square:-   NY91

photograph
BNG31.jpg  (picture avoiding litter, road noise, etc.)
(taken 23.2.2007)  
evidence:-   probably old map:- Saxton 1579
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, Westmorlandiae et Cumberlandiae Comitatus ie Westmorland and Cumberland, scale about 5 miles to 1 inch, by Christopher Saxton, London, engraved by Augustinus Ryther, 1576, published 1579-1645.
image
Sax9NY81.jpg
Cross atop a hillock. 
item:-  private collection : 2
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old map:- Morden 1695 (Wmd) 
placename:-  Rear Cross
placename:-  Roycross
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, Westmorland, scale about 2.5 miles to 1 inch, by Robert Morden, published by Abel Swale, the Unicorn, St Paul's Churchyard, Awnsham, and John Churchill, the Black Swan, Paternoster Row, London, 1695.
image
MD10NY81.jpg
"Rear Cross als Roycross"
Stone on the county boundary. 
item:-  JandMN : 24
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old map:- Simpson 1746 map (Wmd) 
placename:-  Rey Cross
placename:-  Rear
source data:-   Map, uncoloured engraving, Westmorland, scale about 8 miles to 1 inch, printed by R Walker, Fleet Lane, London, 1746.
image
SMP2NYW.jpg
"Rear"
image
SMP2NYV.jpg
"Rey Cross"
item:-  Dove Cottage : 2007.38.59
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old map:- Jefferys 1770 (Wmd) 
placename:-  Rear Cross
source data:-   Map, 4 sheets, The County of Westmoreland, scale 1 inch to 1 mile, surveyed 1768, and engraved and published by Thomas Jefferys, London, 1770.
image
J5NY81SE.jpg
"Rear Cross"
no symbol 
item:-  National Library of Scotland : EME.s.47
Image © National Library of Scotland
evidence:-   old map:- Laurie and Whittle 1806
placename:-  Bear Cross
source data:-   Road map, Continuation of the Roads to Glasgow and Edinburgh, scale about 10 miles to 1 inch, by Nathaniel Coltman? 1806, published by Robert H Laurie, 53 Fleet Street, London, 1834.
image  click to enlarge
Lw21.jpg
"Bear Cross 254½"
place; distance from London; on county boundary 
item:-  private collection : 18.21
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old map:- Hall 1820 (Wmd) 
placename:-  Rey Cross
source data:-   Map, hand coloured engraving, Westmoreland ie Westmorland, scale about 14.5 miles to 1 inch, by Sidney Hall, London, 1820, published by Samuel Leigh, 18 Strand, London, 1820-31.
image  click to enlarge
HA18.jpg
"Rey Cross"
circle; on county boundary 
item:-  Armitt Library : 2008.14.58
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old text:- Gents Mag
placename:-  Reicrois
placename:-  Rerecros
source data:-   Magazine, The Gentleman's Magazine or Monthly Intelligencer or Historical Chronicle, published by Edward Cave under the pseudonym Sylvanus Urban, and by other publishers, London, monthly from 1731 to 1922.
image G825A414, button  goto source
Gentleman's Magazine 1825 part 1 p.414 
From the Compendium of County History:-  "1st or 2d century. Marit[ ], King of the Britons, defeated Roderic, or Rotheringer, a Pictish general from Scythia, upon the mountain now called Stanemore; in memory whereof Reicrois or Rerecros (a red or royal cross) was erected, and from him Westmorland takes its names."
evidence:-   old text:- Gents Mag 1825
placename:-  Rerecross
source data:-   image G825A516, button  goto source
Gentleman's Magazine 1825 part 1 p.516  "Compendium of County History. - Westmorland."
"RERECROSS on Stanemore is the boundary between Westmorland and Yorkshire. Only a fragment of it now remains. At the neighbouring turnpike house is a cylindrical stone with COH . V. probably a Roman miliary."
evidence:-   old print:- Calverley 1899
item:-  cross; boundary stone; county boundary mark; coat of arms, royal
source data:-   ... just over the border in Yorkshire,
Reycross:- 
image  click to enlarge
CV1142.jpg
Photograph by W L Fletcher. 
John Speed, 1623, said:-  "A stone crosse, on one side of whose shaft stood the picture, and armes, of the King of England, and on the other the image and armes of the king and kingdome of Scotland."
item:-  JandMN : 190
Image © see bottom of page
evidence:-   old print:- Bogg 1898
placename:-  Rere Cross
placename:-  Roi Cross
item:-  cross; boundary stone
source data:-   Print, engraving, Stainmoor, Rere or Roi Cross, ie Rey Cross, Durham, by Whiteley Brook, published by Edmund Bogg, 3 Woodhouse Lane, and James Miles, Guildford Street, Leeds, Yorkshire, 1898.
image  click to enlarge
BGG126.jpg
Included on p.106 of Lakeland and Ribblesdale, by Edmund Bogg. 
item:-  JandMN : 231.26
Image © see bottom of page
hearsay:-  
 Rey Cross stands beside the road. All that remains is the base and the top part of the shaft of a wheel headed cross; the cross is gone. It was set up by Edmund, King of Northumbria, AD946, to mark the boundary between Northumbria, England, and Strathclyde, Scotland, ruled by Malcolm I.
The cross would probably have stood 10 feet high. All that is left now is part of the top of the shaft and the plinth, any decorative carving worn away. It once stood west of the present location, in the roman marching camp. It was re-erected in a layby when the road was widened, 1992, and the meaningless stump is now surrounded by road noise and litter.
Tradition says the cross marked the grave of Erik Bloodaxe, last viking ruler of York, killed near here, AD945. When excavated in 1990 there was no evidence of any burial.
personal
person:-    : Eric Bloodaxe
place:-   burial place
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