2XO THE SHALL-CROSS. 



until the eighth century that it was attempted in Derbyshire. 

 The old crosses of Paulinus, or their sites, would be the best 

 known ecclesiastical landmarks, and therefore it would be almost 

 impossible to imagine that they would not be brought into the 

 scheme of division. The difficulty where they existed, and no 

 doubt they were then very numerous compared to the crosses 

 we now know, would be solved at once by assigning to a 

 priest the township or parish lying between four crosses, 

 or between certain crosses, and some well-known land- 

 mark. As a matter of fact, the boundaries rarely 

 followed any such simple lines as these, but their variation was 

 probably by arrangement between the neighbouring priests. 

 Then it would be that the old wooden crosses would be repro- 

 duced in stone, to permanently record their origin and their 

 new use. Where these had not existed, and in other districts, 

 probably the ordinary Christian cross of the fashion of the 

 day would be erected to mark the corners of the boundaries, and 

 of these many also still remain. As time went on and stones 

 perished or boundaries varied, they would be renewed or 

 increased in number, but it is probable that each locality in 

 those early days would reproduce the design which tradition, 

 custom and veneration had popularized, whether it was the 

 pillar or the ordinary Saxon cross. Nevertheless, I believe that 

 the Picking Rods, the Bow Stones, the Shall-cross and some of 

 the others are the original crosses set up in the eighth century 

 on the first division of the parishes. That Stapleford and Wilne 

 are probably a century or so later is but a natural conclusion; 

 still they are, or were, elaborated reproductions of the original 

 prototype, the wooden cross. 



Although now at Fernilee, I have not hesitated to call this 

 specimen the Shall-cross, for that is what I believe its name to 

 have been. It had obviously been removed to its present site 

 in comparatively modern times. From the initials " H L," and 

 the date, 1720, so carefully carved upon it, I think it is almost 

 certain that it was standing in situ in that year. Who H L 



