In other places in the county no doubt similar relics have been preserved; but it is in the Market-place of Sandbach that the greatest treasures of this kind are to be seen. Of the Sandbach crosses Ormerod has said, “They may indisputably be ranked among the finest monuments of antiquity of this kind in the kingdom.” Similarly Mr. Romilly Allen has said, “Much of the finest series of figure subjects probably in all England is to be seen on the mutilated crosses at Sandbach.” The origin of the crosses is veiled in obscurity. It has been asserted that they were put up in the year 608, when Penda returned a Christian convert to Mercia, attended, according to Bede, by four priests deputed to preach the gospel throughout his dominions. But though this statement may be quite conjectural, there is no doubt that they may be placed at a very early date. Mr. Romilly Allen thinks that the earliest date which can be assigned to any Christian monument in Cheshire is in the second half of the seventh century; so that he (no mean authority) would not accept the above statement. [Illustration: Sandbach Crosses.] The crosses have had a chequered history. They were broken down and defaced in the civil wars in the reign of Charles I. The pieces were then dispersed, and were taken possession of by different people. One of the largest was removed to Utkinton Hall, thence later to Tarporley Rectory, and finally to Oulton Park, where it stood for some time near the park wall, not far from the lodge. Other pieces had a similar experience. Dr. Ormerod was chiefly instrumental in gathering the fragments together, one having been built into a wall near the town well, and another used as a step of a cottage. Fortunately the stone, though local, is of a much harder grit than the ordinary Cheshire sandstone, and in consequence the carving has not suffered to anything like the extent it otherwise would have done by these removals and by weather. Considering the unique character of the crosses, this is a matter of sincere congratulation. Mr. Allen suggests that they were erected “to encourage devotion in a public place by the religious subjects sculptured on them”; and to this we might add, to urge upon all who transacted business there that their dealings should be marked by truth and justice. The two crosses stand on a substructure of two steps, with two sockets in which the crosses are fixed. At the angle of each stage of the platform are stone posts, on which figures have been rudely carved. The crosses are now of unequal height, if ever they were of the same dimensions. The taller one is 16 feet 8 inches high; the shorter one 11 feet 11 inches. On the shorter cross one piece, and on the taller one two pieces, have evidently suffered somewhat when they were taken away, as the carving on them is less distinct than on the rest. The following description will give some idea of the elaborate nature of the carvings, and will show that the opinion of Dr.