White Cross, Danby Moor, Coast to Coast
Historical and Educational Articles for Lion Inn to Grosmont
Approaching the White Cross on Danby Moor from the Roadside
White Cross, Danby Moor, Coast to Coast
White Cross, or Fat Betty as it is also known, is a conspicuous wheelhead cross erected as a Standing Stone and later used as a Boundary Stone on Danby High Moor. it is a scheduled monument and dates back to the 10th or 11th century. The Cross also marks the original meeting point of the parishes of Danby, Westerdale and Rosedale. The Stone is on the north side of the Rosedale Road (Knott Road), just above Rosedale Head. Young Ralph Cross is a half mile to the west and the Lion Inn is visible to the south west on Blakey Ridge, on the opposite side of Rosedale. As well as the White Cross being located on the Coast to Coast path it is also on the Esk Valley Walk, which shares this part of its route with the Coast to Coast path.
White Cross Danby Moor
White Cross is a Grade II Scheduled Standing Stone and Boundary Marker. Its colloquial name is Fat Betty. The shaft to the Cross is missing, and the head is penned to the large base of local gritstone. The head faces east and west. This image is a view of the east side. Danby Moor is in the background.
Fat Betty with Fruit Offering
In recent times visitors have once again taken to making offerings to the stone, as evidenced in this photograph. Fruit, and sometimes coins, have been found on the cross many times during the last few years. These are usually left on the west facing base top (facing towards Young Ralph Cross), which is wide enough to accommodate such offerings.
White Cross aka Fat Betty
A distant view of Fat Betty gives the impression of a face at the top, but this is due to a number of indentations on the wheelhead, obvious on a close examination. The Cross has a number of other markings and a date but none of which would appear to coincide with its erection.
Indentations
In this close up image of the wheelhead of White Cross, the photograph has been treated so as to remove the unnecessary detail, leaving the four indentions. These are more obvious in bright sunlight, and from a distance they often give the illusion of a face carved into the Cross.
South and West Faces
White Betty stands on a raised mound and is visible from a distance, more so due to the regular whitewashing of the top of the base block by the Danby Estate owners.
Coast to Coast Trail Guide
Hiking the Coast to Coast
"Hiking the Coast to Coast" is a digitally enhanced eBook available from Apple Books for all people who have either a Mac, an iPhone or an iPad, and is designed to accompany you on your walk of the Coast to Coast path. The trail guide contains Ordnance Survey maps and other advanced mapping features, step by step directions, hundreds of colour photographs, details of the route, its conditions in different weather and research snippets relating to places of interest along the way.
