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"And" continues Mr. Niblett, "hereby hangs a tale. The lady 

 proprietor of the said house, whilst employing a London architect upon 

 her mansion, commissioned him to take careful admeasurements of 

 the Cross, in its present mutilated state, with the idea of making a 

 skilful restoration of it. On seeing the building so carefully measured, 

 an idle rumour got afloat amongst the villagers, to the effect that 

 the old Cross was going to be pulled down and removed altogether. 

 Meetings were consequently held, and a chairman duly elected, and it 

 was decided that a long stone, prepared for the express purpose by a 

 respected inhabitant named Yarworth, who had died 20 years previous, 

 should be set up, and it is set up accordingly in the wondrous fashion 

 above described. Had it not been for the mysterious use of tape and 

 rule this agitation would never have been got up, and Yarwortli's 

 monolith, so carefully singled out of the quarry by him for its apt 

 proportions, would have lain there still for another twenty years, or, 

 perhaps, for ever." 



In Aylburton Cross, which was repaired about A.D. 1841, the plinth, 

 or socket, at the top of the pedestal, is ornamented with a drip moulding, 

 which gives a finish to the proportions of this member of the building, and 

 a finer and more harmonious effect than is produced by the bald block of 

 Cleai-well. 



Of Lydney Cross there is not much to be said. From the size and 

 loftiness of the steps, it may easily be conceived what a handsome and 

 imposing structure it once was, and how it must have towered above 

 all around it. I happened to visit this Cross soon after it had been 

 mended, when the mortar was fresh in the joints, and the scraping and 

 chiselling had left a clean surface behind. The principal mischief may 

 have been done earlier, but a glance at the plate, which is 2,fac simile of 

 a photograph taken at the time, will convey to the reader, better than 

 words can, an idea of the aspect it then had, which is in no respect 

 calculated to exalt our ideas of the "Transition Decorated," if, in its 

 present condition, the Cross is to be considered as a specimen of that style. 



It was a common custom to decorate the capitals of Crosses with 

 sculpture, or with canopied niches, containing figiires, — the Cross 

 proper, usually of iron, surmounting the whole. Not only High Crosses, 

 but Way-side, and even Church-yard Crosses, and slender monoliths 

 of 10 or 12 feet in length, and of hard stone, were thus ornamented ; and 

 from the size of the shaft, I think it not improbable that these were 

 similarly crowned. But I shall allude more fully to this subject when 

 touching on the general history of Crosses. 



In conclusion, we cannot look on these buildings without interest. 



