A BIG stone cross has joined the landmark historic crosses and waymarking stones on the North Yorkshire Moors - the first to be erected for hundreds of years.
The imposing structure has been put up by residents of Rosedale and Hartoft to mark the millennium and a large crowd watched the vicar, the Reverend Dr Alistair Ferguson, dedicate the cross at the top of Heygate Bank overlooking Rosedale.
Albert Elliot, of the North Yorkshire Moors Association ,said the pattern of the monument had been based on a 9th Century Saxon wheel-head cross.
It stands on a double-stepped plinth on land owned by the Faccombe Estates and help with financing the project has been given by the Heritage Lottery Fund and North Yorkshire County Council.
Appleton-le-Moors stonemason Geoff Hutchinson was commissioned to make the 9ft cross from sandstone supplied by the Limber Hill quarry at Egton Bridge, and its design matches two others on the moors: White Cross - better known as Fat Betty - and the Steeple Cross.
Mr Elliot said: "The Rosedale Millennium Cross takes its place among an interesting assemblage of new and archaic stones. As well as its obvious Christian message, the new cross should act as an enduring reminder of the continuity of generations of people connected with the moorland".
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