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Immediately after the last Ice Age Embsay Moor was covered in large gritstone boulders, deposited as the glaciers retreated.

Under medieval feudal law Embsay villagers were allowed to collect this ‘free-stone’ from the moor for their own use. The most entrepreneurial of the villages were known to gather large quantities of the stone and sell it. But the largest or most prominent of the boulders were perfect landmarks that could be used to mark the edge of the village lands. To remember which stones were boundary markers, the villagers were required to ‘perambulate’ (that is, walk or ride) the boundaries, the identification of the boundary stones being passed from generation to generation. Some boundary stones were named to make them more memorable.

The ancient boundary stones for Embsay village feature several differences to the (slightly less ancient) Eastby boundary stones. The Eastby boundary stones are marked with a style commonly called a Greek cross with all arms of equal length. But many of the Embsay boundary markers have more unusual styles of crosses carved into them. Embsay boundary stones are also, generally, large boulders. Please follow these links for other Boundary stones posts:
https://theembsayeastbypost.com/embsay-with-eastby-history-boundary-stones-on-eastby-moor/
https://theembsayeastbypost.com/embsay-with-eastby-history-other-boundaries-on-bardon-moor/

When the monasteries owned the lands, the clear definition of the boundary appears to have been more important and, in the case of Embsay or Eastby, prominent boulders were carved with crosses. A number of the crosses carved into Embsay boulders have survived the centuries of Embsay residents quarrying free-stone and also the use of the available stone for the building of the Upper Barden reservoirs, indicating their continuing importance

A large boulder set deep into the ground alongside a stream now running into the Upper reservoir is now known as Dolly Roggin. It is possible that this was an example of a rocking stone, where one boulder was left by the glaciers sitting on the top of another. Dolly Roggin sits where the boundaries of Embsay, Rylstone and Barden meet. The importance of this stone is shown by the number of carvings in its surface, the most prominent being a deeply cut Latin cross (the style of cross you would normally see in church). There is also a shallower cut Greek cross and some other indecipherable carvings. (See picture A) There is also a large 19^th Century fence post fixed to the boulder from when Rylstone moor was fenced off (Picture B).

Walking along the boundary eastwards, the next boundary stone is set deep into the ground (Picture C). The cross carved into this stone is an unusual style known as a cross crosslet. This has small crosses attached to the upper arms of a Latin cross. The three crosslets are thought to refer to the Holy Trinity or to be a representation of Golgotha, the hill upon which Christ and two thieves were crucified (Picture D).

Further east again can be found what can only be described as an ‘Oops’ moment.

What is visible first is a stone column with a Greek cross carved into it, in the style of the boundary stones on Eastby Moor, leaning against two small boulders sitting in a depression in the ground (Picture E). But if you examine the two broken remains of the boulder you can see that they were once a single piece of stone. The depression they are sitting in is a ‘delf’, the hole left as a much larger stone was quarried out. On one of the remaining boulders another unusual cross form is deeply carved, a Cross Potent Fitichee. The ‘potent’ description is from the Latin for ‘Power’. The fitichee is Norman French (the language of chivalry) for ‘driven in’ to the ground, signifying a traveller’s cross that has been pushed into the ground as a focus for a church service (Picture F).

I can imagine the ‘Oops’ moment when someone discovered the importance of the rock he was breaking up. Did he place the column stone to cover his tracks, or did the next group that perambulated the boundary curse him before ordering a column to be placed there?

About 100 metres away, above the small Lumb Gill reservoir, there is another remnant of a large boulder with a carved cross. This has two crosses carved into it. The Greek cross is quite deeply carved. The second cross  is not carved very deeply but is of a style called ‘Cross Pomee’  (apples representing plenty) or alternatively Cross Bezant after a Byzantine coin.(Picture G and H).

The final carved cross is the most unusual, and not on a boundary stone. Two crosses are carved on the top of a rocky outcrop called North Earls, near to where the footpath from Embsay Kirk joins the Rylstone to Bolton Abbey trackway.  One of these is a Greek Cross, as seen on many of the boundary stones. The second is an ‘Ankh Cross’, which is based on an Egyptian hieroglyph signifying ‘Life’ and was adopted by the Coptic Orthodox Church. These carved crosses are almost inaccessible and certainly not visible from ground level.

I know of no other boundaries which have this range of different cross carvings, and they are so different to the Eastby boundary stone carvings that it is difficult not to conclude that they were carved when Embsay was a separate township, and when it was part of monastic land holdings. This would date the carvings from between 1120 and 1241.

It is very tempting to make up stories to explain findings such as this. One can imagine these crosses being carved by someone, maybe an ex-soldier fighting in the Middle East in the 12^th Century Crusader-Muslim wars, seeing the various cross designs in his travels, coming home and finding solace carving these crosses on the moors above Embsay Priory that he called home.

It is possible to visit all of these cross markers as they are on Open Access lands. The North Earls cross requires scrambling to the top of a rock. Pictures E and G are the most accessible at Lumb Gill Head, but all require rough-walking over moorland. Please wear suitable footwear and clothing and do not walk on the rough moorland alone.

Chris Lunnon. Embsay with Eastby Historical Research Group