A LARGE stone cross has joined the landmark crosses and stones on the North Yorkshire Moors - the first to be erected for hundreds of years.

The imposing structure has been put up by residents of Rosedale and Hartoft to mark the Millennium, and last Sunday the vicar of the group parish, the Rev Dr Alistair Ferguson, dedicated the structure watched by a large crowd of villagers who made their way to the vantage point of Heygate Bank, overlooking Rosedale.

The idea of erecting the cross was selected by the Rosedale and Hartoft Millennium Group and backed by the parish council.

Albert Elliot, a member of the North Yorkshire Moors Association (NYMA) council, said the pattern for the new monument has been based on a 9th-century Saxon wheel-head cross, a design put forward by David Haddon-Reece and his wife, Christine. She was, until recently, curate at Rosedale and now vicar of Topcliffe.

The cross stands on a double-stepped stone plinth on land owned by the Faccombe Estates, which gave approval for its erection. Help with financing the project has been given by the Heritage Lottery Fund and North Yorkshire County Council.

Appleton-le-Moors stonemason Geoff Hutchinson was commissioned to make the 9ft-high cross from sandstone supplied by the Limber Hill quarry at Egton Bridge. The wheel-head face, which points towards the village, is one of only a handful of such crosses on the moors, said Mr Elliot, the others being White Cross - better known as Fat Betty - and Steeple Cross.

Mr Elliot said: "The Rosedale Millennium cross takes its place among an interesting assemblage of new and archaic stones. As well as its obvious Christian message, the new cross should act as an enduring reminder of the continuity of generations of people connected with the moorland."

Updated: 11:14 Thursday, December 20, 2001