Mab's Cross

On the face of it, this is a rather unimpressive bit of stone, so you may be surprised to hear that it is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade II listed building. In 1922 Mab's Cross, was relocated across the road from its original position as part of a road widening scheme. It now stands within the grounds of the Primary School which bears its name. This explains the rather poor composition of my blip, as I couldn't really get a clean shot - even this had me leaning over the railings at lunch time and hoping that the headteacher wouldn't emerge to enquire what I was up to. I figured the chances of him/her being a fellow blipper were fairly slim and I was a bit pushed for time as far as lengthy explanations were concerned. So this is it.

What remains of the stone cross dates from the 13th century. It was originally one of four stone crosses used as waymarkers along the medieval route from Wigan to Chorley. The cross according to local legend, is named after Lady Mabel Bradshaw. The legend says that when Sir William Bradshaw, her husband, failed to return from the crusades she married a Welsh knight - when Sir William returned from a ten year campaign, he was obviously disappointed. Like any returning crusader worth his salt, he murdered his wife's new husband in Newton-le-Willows while he was trying to escape. Lady Mabel did penance for her unintentional bigamy by walking from Haigh Hall to this stone cross in Wigan "bare footed and bare legged" once a week as long as she lived.

Well it's a good story isn't it? Have a great weekend whatever you're doing :)