Village celebrates restoration of ‘best preserved’ cross

Work on the Brandesburton cross was organised by the parish council, which secured £3,500 of funding from the Coast, Wolds, Wetlands and Waterways Leader programme’s fast-track grant scheme.

The restoration will be celebrated with an unveiling at 3pm next Friday led by staff and pupils from Brandesburton Primary School.

Headteacher Jo Ledingham said: “We are delighted that we have been asked to attend. We like the school to be at the centre of the community.”

The cross is both a Grade II listed building and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

The top of the shaft was once richly decorated with the figures of two angels standing back to back, but these have long since worn away leaving only the base and the 10-foot octagonal shaft.

The village stocks stood against the cross in the 19th century and it was a regular meeting place for the Holderness Hunt.

Local landowner Sir Tatton Sykes planned to replace it in 1911, but he died before seeing the plans through and the replacement was instead installed in the gardens of Holyrood House in Hedon.