This cross is known as White Cross, or Fat Betty, and it can be found where a minor east - west road and a north-south footpath over the moors cross each other on Danby High Moor at the head of the Rosedale Valley to the east of Rosedale Head. It has acted as a wayside cross / marker stone for hundreds of years for travellers going between Rosedale and Westerdale or Danby Dale. The nearest village is Botton, a few miles to the north. It is easy to become lost on these windswept moors and so these crosses and waymarkers would have been a great help to pilgrims and others traversing the North York Moors from medieval times. Even today it is a comfort to see one of these landmarks when visibility is poor and one is navigating with a compass.
Fat Betty is about 4 foot high, square and squat in shape, with a wheel-head cross on top that has four small indentations that almost look like a human face. The whole thing is really a solid block of stone that is painted white from about halfway up, hence the name White Cross. It may have originally had a cross-shaft attached, with the wheel head above that.
The cross is thought to date from the 12th century or earlier, and may well have been placed here as a wayside cross for the nuns at nearby Rosedale Abbey; the religious ladies themselves apparently wore a white habit, so that could that be where the name White Cross came from.
Thank you all for your comments and favs, which put this shot on the Popular Page.
This Cross is situated high on the moor tops, yet within a few hundred yards it is possible to see the sea on a clear day.
Fat Betty is one of four crosses within a mile of it's location, each different in style and with their own unique histories.
Ian