Under the Warburton shield:-- If proud thou be of ancestors for worth and wisdom famed, So live that they, if now alive, would not of thee be shamed. SOME CHESHIRE CROSSES By the Archdeacon of Chester It would be impossible, in the course of a short chapter, to give an adequate account of all the crosses in the county of which remains still exist. On such a subject, as in the case of most counties, a volume might be written. Nor will it be attempted even to refer to all of them or to give a complete list, and it may well be that some interesting specimens will be omitted, or not mentioned here, not because they are not worthy of mention, but because there is not space to do justice to them. It cannot but be a matter of regret that Puritan fanaticism was responsible for the destruction of many, if not most, of these crosses throughout the country. It has been computed that at least 5000 had been at various times erected, and they afforded not only types of architectural design and ornament, but also historical evidence of former times and customs. The crosses varied much in form and character, as also in position and origin. Many of them, no doubt, were in the first instance _Preaching Crosses_. The monks or other early heralds of Christianity would rear up some simple or wooden cross to mark the place from which they would address the people who came to hear them, and this would in process of time give place to a more permanent structure of stone, sometimes of an elaborate nature. Generally it would be elevated or raised upon a platform of steps, sometimes few, but sometimes as many as eight or more. The cross itself might be enriched with the Figure or with some inscription or pattern of some emblematic kind. After a time, in some places, a church would be erected, and the cross or its successor would become the _Churchyard Cross_. Where this did not happen, the cross would remain as a reminder to the people of the message that had been delivered there, and to teach them that all their actions were to have a religious purpose. In some instances the cross became a _Market Cross_, of which, in different parts of the country, we have various elaborate specimens. Here again the name, whether the form of the cross was prominent or not, was evidently meant to suggest that the transactions there carried on were to be true and just, as became Christian men. Sometimes the cross became “_the High Cross_,” where justice was administered and civic matters discussed; and in this case also the title is most suggestive. In addition to these there were _Boundary Crosses_, by which would be implied the sin of removing a neighbour’s landmark; and _Weeping Crosses_, visited by penitents. Of all these, except, so far as I know, the latter, there are, of course, many examples in the county, and of some of them this article will treat. [Illustration: The High Cross, Chester.]