The fascinating history of Rylstone Cross and its link to Napoleon's defeat and Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee

A sandstone pillar was erected at the site to celebrate the defeat, in 1815, of French military and political leader Napoleon.

The people of Rylstone wanted to commemorate the moment but money was tight, as an article written in the Rylstone and District Parish Magazine in September 1995 explains.

“In this Parish there was no money for a monument but the men went up the fell, cut or chipped out a pillar from the rocks there and erected it in a prominent position”, writes its author Mary Stoney.

The article is reprinted on the Rylstone project website, belonging to a group of enthusiasts interested in their local history,

It goes on to explain how years later, the pillar was adapted, to mark the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.

Rylstone Cross was born when parishioners attached wooden arms to the top of the pillar on the fell.

But that is not the same cross still standing today. Despite repairs to the wooden part of the cross, the stone pillar later became damaged and a new cross, made entirely of three large sections of stone, was built to replace it.

Mary’s account continues: “Sawn from a quarry in the Ripon district, the cost of airlifting the [sections] to the fell was generously met by the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

“Upon the fell, stone masons worked many long hours making the sections fit and slot together into the cross, ready for erection.”

It was hauled into position and raised almost 27 years to the date, on April 19 and 20, 1995.

It is reported that the new cross was paid for by a local farmer and there are time capsules inside the stainless steel core with copies of local newspapers from that week in history.