Located in the hamlet of Fernilee near Whaley Bridge at the junction of Old Road and Elnor Lane. It is contained within a small stone-wall enclosure.

The cross-shaft stood for several decades in the grounds of Fernilee Hall (Andrew 1905, 201; Routh 1937a, 28; id. 1937b, 31), before the Hall was destroyed by the construction of Fernilee Reservoir, when the shaft was moved to its current position. Andrew (1905, 211) records that it was originally located elsewhere and cites local tradition which holds that it once stood by the Roman road from Buxton, Old Road, above Fernilee Hall before being moved to the Hall grounds. This location is thought to be close to its present position which presumably influenced the decision to relocate it here after construction of the Reservoir.

Considerably weathered and worn smooth, with some damage, especially on C. The top of the shaft and its probable cross-head are missing. It is possible that there was some additional decoration on the upper faces which has subsequently been eroded away. A sundial set in stone surmounts the shaft, a likely legacy from its previous location in the grounds of Fernilee Hall.

A round-shaft with the remains of a rectangular-sectioned upper portion, the top of which is missing. The lower cylindrical section is smooth and undecorated, terminating in a double collar below the rectangular-section. The collar is rounded, smooth and undecorated. The extant decoration is preserved on the upper section.

A: The face has a U-shaped round moulding, the upper part of which is truncated. There is no discernible decoration within this.

B: This face is also decorated with a U-shaped moulding, which contains a modern incised rectangle and the letters ‘H L’ and a date: ‘1720’.

C: The face again has a U-shaped round moulding, the upper part of which is truncated and there is some damage. There is no discernible decoration within the U-shaped moulding.

D: This face is badly worn and damaged but another U-shaped moulding can be discerned. There is no visible decoration within the moulding.

Sometimes referred to as the ‘Shall-Cross’ (Andrew 1905), the monument is one of a number of round-shafted crosses found in many areas of England, with a considerable number of similar dimensions found in this region, most of which–including this piece–are concentrated around the border area between north-western Derbyshire, north-eastern Staffordshire and south-eastern Cheshire (Sidebottom 1994, distribution map 9). The cylindrical shape of this monument may not have been significant to Anglo-Saxon masons, the choice between a round and rectangular shaft being simply pragmatic. As with the other examples, this may have been fashioned from reused Roman milestones, with the upper part carved away to create the tapered appearance (cf. Fig. 35, p. 86). Here, the former Roman road heading northwards from Buxton close to where this monument may have originally stood, is perhaps not coincidental.

Tenth century

Allen 1905, 282; Andrew 1905, pl. 1; Le Blanc Smith 1906, 237; Collingwood 1923a, 10; Clapham 1930, 134 n.2; Routh 1937a, 28; Routh 1937b, 31; Plunkett 1984, 286; Craven and Stanley 1986, 27; Sidebottom 1994, 147, 149, 153, 154, 249–50 (Fernilee); Sharpe 2002, 94–5; Bailey 2010, 34, 37, 46, 84, 137