Roker, Whitburn Road, Bede Memorial Cross

HER Number

7234

District

Sunderland

Site Name

Roker, Whitburn Road, Bede Memorial Cross

Place

Roker

Map Sheet

NZ45NW

Class

Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad

Cross

Site Type: Specific

Cross

General Period

20TH CENTURY

Specific Period

Early 20th Century 1901 to 1932

Form of Evidence

Structure

Description

Memorial cross, 1904. Signed “GW Millburn York Sculpt” and “CC Hodges, Hexham inv. et direx”. Granite. Saxon style. Tall tapered shaft. Dedication to Bede and Eadfrith, and extracts from Bede’s writing on west. Interlace pattern and low-relief carved scenes from Bede’s life on east. Vine pattern and northern saints, with runic inscription on north. Vine and inscription on south. Hodges was the excavator of Hexham Abbey. A later inscription records that the cross was removed in 1914 and restored to this site in 1921. LISTED GRADE 2

Easting

440670

Northing

559310

Grid Reference

NZ440670559310

Sources

Department of National Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 920-1/5/246; Ian Ayris, Peter Jubb, Steve Palmer and Paul Usherwood, 1996, A Guide to the Public Monuments and Sculpture of Tyne and Wear, p 44; Paul Usherwood, Jeremy Beach and Catherine Morris, 2000, Public Sculpture of North East England, p 188-91; Sunderland City Council, 2007, Roker Park Conservation Area Character Appriasal and Management Strategy