Stancombe Cross, and its sign

On the way back from the farm shop in Bisley I belatedly pulled over into the entrance to a field just beyond Stancombe Cross. I've been meaning to stop to photograph the cross for some time and I realised that the spring growth of grass and scrub is accelerating. Within weeks there will be a thick covering of vegetation on the wide verges and this more open view would no longer be possible.

I've added an extra showing the reverse view from the road towards the nearby Cotswold stone wall, which runs for sevewral miles along the boundary of Lypiatt Park's land. There is actually a field beyond this section rather than the parkland which I blipped a few weeks ago.

The sign reads as follows:
The Cross-shaft
The square shaft and a base-member of a now headless Saxon cross, of the tall northern type (Bewcastle Cross), dating from c.A.D. 700 once carved with tiers of holy figures withing square and round-headed niches. Probably brought from Stancombe Cross-roads c.1820 for use as a Bisley Parish boundary stone, recognised 1928, and since restored and protected by the Gloucestershire County Council.

ST. C.B.

Stancombe crossroads mark the junction of very ancient tracks that afforded long distance travel between the Roman centres of Corinium (now named Cirencester) and Glevum (now named Gloucester), as well as the north-south trackways along the line of the limestone escarpment called the Cotswold Hill in this area. All these tracks were almost certainly in existence long before the Roman invasions. 

The farm shop I visit, which is owned by my friends the Dickenson family, is called Stancombe Beech Farm to differentiate it from the nearby Stancombe Ash farm. They are both close to the crossroads next to the head of the coombe, which runs down from Bisley and was carved out by the Bisley springs. These form a brook which quickly increases in size as it falls downhill and then becomes the Toadsmoor stream, which joins the River Frome before passing through Stroud about three miles downstream.