ON the eastern edge of Ferryhill is an area called Cleves Cross.

Here, near a bus stop on the road along the edge of present day Ferryhill is the stump of the medieval Cleves Cross itself.

Originally placed in a pile of limestone it is reputedly the site at which Hodge of Ferry captured and slayed a notorious brawn – the brawn of Brancepeth – a wild boar that terrorised the County Durham countryside.

The fearsome wild boar made its home at Brandon and it liked nothing better than to rampage through Brancepeth on its way to its favourite forest at Ferryhill.

On the thickly-wooded hill, this terrible creature would root and snuffle in the most stomach-churning manner, before descending to the marsh at the bottom of the Gap where it would roll around, as happy as a pig in mud.

Knights from near and far tried in vain to slay the formidable brute, but it was too quick for them all and it made many fortuitous escapes.

But Hodge, or Roger, of Ferry studied the movements of the beast and tracked its favourite haunts.

Roger knew it liked to come crashing through the trees on the cliff at Ferryhill and so there he devised a fatal trap – a deep pitfall, covered lightly with boughs and turf.

And brave Sir Roger stood on the side of the pit, armed with his trusty sword, waiting for the appalling creature to reveal itself.

Sure enough, it did, greedily lured to the spot by bait that Roger had cunningly concealed in the trap.

When the boar saw him standing on its favoured path, a red mist descended upon it and it charged. Roger drew his sword and ran him through with his blade.

And that was that, the end of the big pig of Durham.

Amid great cheering, the people of Ferryhill filled in the pit and, to mark the historic spot so that future generations would never forget the heroism of Sir Roger de Ferry, they placed a stone cross.

Because it was on the cliff above the Gap, it became known as cliff’s cross – or Cleves Cross, as it is today, poking out of the pavement by the bus shelter.

The story may have been embelished by the famed Durham historian Robert Surtees, who lived at Mainsforth just east of Ferryhill. Surtees was the first to record the story.

Cleves Cross is more likely a medieval boundary marker of some kind or of some religious significance.

l Thanks to David Simpson of England's North East – https://englandsnortheast.co.uk/ – and Chris Lloyd for their help in compiling this feature.