Greenhead Memorial Cross

MATERIALS: Portland stone cross, sandstone base.

DESCRIPTION: The memorial stands at the roadside to the north of the Church of St Cuthbert (Grade II-listed) and adjacent to the Grade II-listed Memorial Drinking Fountain (1865, in memory of John Blenkinsop Coulson). It is within the Frontiers of the Roman Empire (Hadrian's Wall) World Heritage Site Buffer Zone.

Approximately 5m tall, the memorial takes the form of a slender early-medieval cross with a hemispherical boss at the centre of the cross arms and ornament outlining the cross shaft. The moulded foot of the cross shaft rises from a low, tapering, pedestal, that stands on a two-stepped base.

The principal dedicatory inscription on the front face of the base reads TO THE IMMORTAL MEMORY OF THE/ MEN FROM THIS PARISH/ WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR/ 1914 – 1919/ IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR/ KING AND COUNTRY. The commemorated First World War names are recorded to the sides of the pedestal. A small stone plaque reclining on the steps to the front reads 1939 – 1945/ (NAMES).

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: The memorial is enclosed with a hedge to the rear and, to the front, curving low stone walls that end in dwarf piers at the entrance to the enclosure.

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 9 February 2017.