Rothley Cross in Churchyard St Marys Church, Church Street, Rothley (Ancient Monument)

The monument includes part of a Mercian cross located in the churchyard of St Mary and St John?s Church, Rothley, approximately 10m south of the Church. The cross is late eight or ninth century in date with modern repairs and takes the form of a base comprising a socket stone and the shaft which has been fashioned from Millstone Grit. The cross which was originally a monolith has been broken into four stones at some date and subsequently re-assembled. The cross stands on an earthen mound which has a diameter of 3.9m and rises to 0.6m high at the centre within which the socket stone is partly buried. Set into the socket stone is the stone shaft of tapering rectangular section which measures 0.53m north south and 0.42m west east at its base and stands to a height of 3.7m. Each face of the shaft is divided by doubled mouldings into four ornamental panels. The elaborate low relief carved decoration is mostly of interlaced plaitwork and plant scrolls including whorls of foliage with elongated leaves. One panel on the south face is believed to include a carving of a winged beast or dragon with an interlacing tail whilst that above the gabled head on the north face has a symmetrical foliate ornament The grave markers immediately to the north and south west of the cross are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath these features is included.