Rothley Saxon Cross
Inthe distance, glimpses of the beautiful spire of Queniborough’s church,considered by Pevsner to be "one of the finest spires in the whole of Leicestershire”. It’s certainly the tallest.
Over the Queniborough Brook, and beyond that, Queniborough’s high street, a designated conservation area; and three cheers for that, given the rich mix of 16th to 20th-century properties - the classic brick cottages, painted facades, and thatched rooves. A joy to ride through.
The target of my ride has brought me along this lovely High Street; a ride to an ancient remnant of the pre-conquest Saxon kingdom of Mercia, located in Rothley, north of Leicester.
Even on the more recentlybuilt edges of Queniborough there’s history to be found. A short stretch of road beyond the High Street stops at a T junction. This is where I join an old turnpike established in 1764, connecting Melton Mowbray and Leicester. It later became the A607, until bypassed in 1992.
Having turned right at that T, I am now heading west on the by-pass, and even here there’s history to be found. Beyond East Goscote,I meet an ordinary looking roundabout. But what marks this one out as alittle special is that it stands on the Roman Fosse Way, a road that was already hundreds of years old when the Saxons arrived in Rothley.
Overthe River Soar, under today’s A6, to make an error at the cross roads which follow. In my haste to find a right turn I turned right too early.My error was to turn on to the old route of the A6 before Rothley and Moutsorrel were both bypassed. At this point it was once the Market Harborough and Loughborough Turnpike, established in 1726. Soon back on my planned route in Rothley, I was looking for the correct right turn onto Anthony Street, which would lead me to Church Street.
Rothleylies in the heart of what was Mercia, the powerful Anglo-Saxon kingdom that dominated central England from the 7th to early 9th centuries. Evidence points to Rothley being a significant local settlement with ecclesiastical and manorial functions in the late Saxon period. And a key piece of that evidence is what I’ve come to see here in the churchyard of St Mary and St John’s.
The Rothley Cross, a well-preserved Anglo-Saxon cross shaft, dated to the late 8th to mid-9thcentury - in other words pre-Viking in the Mercian context. Made from millstone grit (likely from Derbyshire), it features intricate carvings including interlaced plait-work, plant scrolls, foliage, and possibly a winged beast/dragon. It is one of only two near-complete early examples in the East Midlands and reflects Mercian artistic styles.
The cross was probably associated with Saxon Rothley church’s role as a minster - a mother church serving a large parish territory with subordinate chapels. The surviving Saxon cross remains a tangible link to that era.
© John Dunn.
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