Bewys Cross

The monument currently known as Bewys Cross is the steps, plinth and truncated shaft of an ancient cross of uncertain age (?? 14th/15th century) which used to stand on the shore of the River Severn near what is now Avonmouth, Bristol, UK, apparently close to where the drainage channel called Elbury Gout flowed into the Severn at the northernmost pont of Shirehampton tithing. It now stands beside a pond in the grounds of Kingsweston School, a school for children with disabilities close to Kings Weston House. Local tradition has it that in the 12th century (surely an exaggeration of its age) sailors showed their gratitude to God for their safe return by leaving donations to the church at the cross, and there is a hole in one of the steps which is said to have received their coins. Bewys Cross was re-erected at Kingsweston, which was the home of the local lord of the manor, at some time between 1787 and 1868, and moved to its present position after the Second World War by the subsequent owners of the Kingsweston estate, Bristol City Council.

The Cross should not be confused with Bewell's Cross in Bristol. The origin of the name is uncertain. There is a Bevis Cross in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, which may be relevant. There may be an echo in both cross-names of the medieval legendary hero Sir Bevis of Hampton.

References

*Hunt, J.M. (1990) Notes on the old stone crosses of the county of Avon. "Avon Past" 15, 21-30, on pp. 24-26.
*Kölbing, Eugen, ed. (1885-94) "The romance of Sir Beues of Hamtoun." London: published for the Early English Text Society by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.
*Thomas, Ethel (1993) "Shirehampton story" (2nd edn). Privately published, 23-25.