Pilgrims' Cross, Holcombe Moor

Known locally as the Pilgrims' Cross, the current monument dates from 1902, marking the site of an ancient cross that is recorded as standing in 1176, and possibly earlier. It is located on Holcombe Moor above Bury, It is "on the western side of the Irwell valley [where the land] rises to a height of over above the sea. Anciently [the moor] formed part of the forest or chase of Tottington, belonging to the Earl of Lancaster and afterwards to the Lacies, earls of Lincoln". Monuments on high moorland such as Pilgrims' Cross served as guide posts for travellers, to tell them how far they had travelled and to aid orientation in bad weather. ==History==

Whitaker (1801) says that the existence of the Pilgrims' Cross, as mentioned in 1225, indicated the route of pilgrims travelling from the north of England to Walsingham and Canterbury. Land in Holcombe Forest was left in that year to Bretton Priory, including "three acres of meadow near Pilgrims' Cross Shaw ... a resting place of the pilgrims". He also mentions the Plantaganets and Lacys, who travelled via the monument's location to Lancaster, from their castles in Clitheroe and Pontefract. "What trains of sumpter horses must upon these occasions have been seen traversing these boggy wastes, impassable at that time for carriages. This was the line the Lacys were condemned to pursue". A letter from the Reverend Henry Dowsett to the Manchester Evening News was published on 24 August of the same year: The Rector of Holcombe ... writes that the massive foundation, all that remained of the ancient Pilgrims' cross stone on Holcombe Hill, has recently been destroyed. The stone was seen alright three weeks ago, but now it has been broken up.. The cross was close to the ancient moorland footpath, and is mentioned as far back as 1225. It was probably in position on Holcombe Hill at a much earlier date. The stone was a block of sandstone, weighing perhaps a ton, and showing the cavity squared for the shaft almost as well cut as when it left the mason's hands 700 years ago. There was only just a little weathering of the angles. A simple block of sandstone ... now it lies in fragments ... scattered here and there ... The stone was not a quarried one. It belonged to that class found upon our hillsides here, among glacial drift and moraine matter. It was of rather a finer grain than the stone now being quarried on our moor ... Our Pilgrims' Cross stone had been dressed and squared by the mason's hand, though a little roughly so here and there. By 1903 the identity of the vandals was still unknown. The Manchester City News said: Its demolition is an act of pure vandalism, for which one can find no excuse, and for which it is difficult even to suggest a motive. It appears to have been carried out by clumsy depredators. Wedges had been inserted in the block.The wedge holes were badly made, and other marks show the unskilful use of heavy hammers. The destruction was evidently committed on the site, and the broken fragments were afterwards carried to the wet boghole, twenty yards distant, in which they were found. Unfortunately they are too numerous, there being at least fifty, for any hope to be entertained of the stone being pieced together again and replaced in its old site. The cart was pulled from Fletcher Bank Quarry at the other side of the Irwell Valley, "with much laborious effort". The monument is constructed of two Millstone Grit blocks, weighing in total roughly . and headed the fundraising committee. On 28 June 1902, The stone was funded by subscription. The inscription states that "Pilgrims to Whalley Abbey prayed and rested here", but Whalley Abbey was not founded until the late 13th century when the monks relocated from nearby Stanlow Abbey in April 1296. In fact, Rev. Henry Dowsett, who ordered the inscription on the stone, confirmed the cross pre-dated the abbey, minutes after dedicating the memorial monument in 1902. He said that: ==Later history==

In 1909 and 1910, the moorland which included the Pilgrims' Cross was at risk of enclosure, when the Territorial Army attempted to requisition it for a rifle range, and possibly "artillery work", in anticipation of imminent war in Europe. Local walkers and farmers were united in their objections to the scheme. The shooting range at Hawkshaw was initiated in 1916. By 1948, the land around the cross was being "used by the army", and in 1987 the army and hikers were still jostling for use of the land. On 6 February 1914, the body of cotton worker Reginald Geldard of Holcombe, aged around 36, was found lying in a pool of water from the Pilgrims' Cross, with a bullet wound in his head and a pistol in his hand. It was speculated that he may have been intimidated by the idea of a hospital operation. In 1935 the monument collapsed, "apparently because of the mortar in the foundations perishing". The monument was restored by public subscription. In more recent times, the monument has been used as a landmark for hikers. For example, in 1991, a dog-walk for charity was organised between Holcombe Brook and the Pilgrims' Cross. In 1975 a group of Girl Guides used the landmark as an expeditionary focus for map-reading and the use of a compass. Local residents were put out when Ordnance Survey (OS) omitted the Pilgrims' Cross from its new Pathfinder map in 1992. However, the OS admitted its mistake and promised to "put it back in future publications". Pilgrims' Cross Fell Race is held annually. In 1993 there was a Pilgrims' Cross Fell Race for sixty competitors on a figure-of-eight route via Helmshore, Holcombe Moor and the monument. ==Notes==