Sandbach Crosses - Sandbach Cheshire (Public)
The Sandbach Crosses were completed in the 9th Century A.D. to commemorate the advent of Christianity in the Kingdom of Mercia about 653 A.D. during the reign of the Saxon King Penda (626-655 AD).
Although Penda remained a Pagan throughout his life, his nine children, by his wife, Cunewise, however, all became Christian: Peada, King of Middle Anglia; Wulfhere and Aethelred, eventually Kings of Mercia; Merewalh, King of Magonset; St. Cuneburga, wife of King Alcfrith of Deira and Abbess of Castor; St. Cuneswith; St. Cunethrith of Castor; St. Edith of Aylesbury; St. Edburga of Bicester; and Wilburga, wife of King Frithuwold of Surrey. The crosses make the advent of Christianity in central England
The two sandstone obelisks bearing engravings which tell the story of the life of Christ and Penda's son, Peada, return to Mercia, were smashed by Puritan iconoclasts in the 17th century and restored in 1816 by Sir John Egerton.
It is said that in about 653 A.D. Penda arranged a marriage between his son Peada and the daughter of Oswiu, (also Oswio, Oswy, Osuiu) the Christian King of Northumbria. As a condition of the marriage, Penda allowed four Christian priests to accompany Peada on his return to Mercia. The ancient Crosses of Sandbach are believed to commemorate the event and the establishment of a Minster at Sandbach.
This was a period when Penda was seeking to expand his kingdom, warring against Kings Sigebert and Egric of Middle Anglia on his eastern boarders, conquering the country in 635; King Cenwalh of Wessex in the south, taking control of the area in 645, and King Oswiu of Northumbria in the north. With an aggressive Mercia on his southern border, Oswiu tried to placate Penda by establishing a marriage alliance between his eldest son, Alcfrith, and the King of Mercia's daughter, Cuneburga. It did not work and, in AD 652, Penda invaded Northumbria and besieged Oswiu in the far north of his kingdom, at Bamburgh.
With an his confidence high through his expanding kingdom, Penda raised a vast Welsh and Middle Saxon army with which he planned to crush Northumbria once and for all. In AD 655,
he marched north. Oswiu fled to his most northern city of Stirling.
The two armies eventually met at the Battle of Winwaed, where Penda and several of his Royal allies were killed.
The Battle of Winwaed not only ensured Northumbria as the ruling kingdom in Northern England, it marked the defeat of the last credible
Pagan force in Anglo-Saxon England.