Thanks Ged I did find that Holy Cross stuff when I was searching for images of St Patrick's Cross.

Wirral has a St Bridget's Church founded by Christian Vikings from Ireland and place names of Irish origin such as Irby "settlement of the Irish". The fact that a marker called St Patrick's Cross stood on the road to Ormskirk rings a bell straight away. The cross there in the 18th Century may have been an original or a later replacement based on a tradition of marking the route from Liverpool to Ormskirk. The site would also make a good trading place being across the river from the main Viking settlement on Wirral and on the road to the settlement at Ormskirk and the other Lancashire settlements.

I think the main argument against St Patrick's being in Liverpool in the Dark Ages would be that Liverpool was not a port at this time and it would be sparsely populated. The main ports in the area would be on the River Dee such as Chester and Parkgate. The Vikings from Ireland brought their new christian religion with them and were accompanied by their Irish allies. The final expulsion of Vikings from Ireland happened in the 11th Century so they could have been coming here over a period of a hundred years. St Patrick's Cross may have marked the original Paddy's Market!

St Patrick's Cross may have been removed because of health & safety! Apparently these crosses were a nuisance to some people and they could cause arguments over having them removed. Here is an account of the fate of the Everton Cross:-

Recollections of Old Liverpool by James Stonehouse

CHAPTER VIII.

In 1820, a rather curious circumstance transpired, which created a good deal of conversation, and even consternation amongst the inhabitants of Everton. This was the extraordinary and mysterious disappearance of the Cross which stood at the top of the village, a little to the westward of where the present Everton road is lineable with Everton-lodge. This Cross was a round pillar, about four feet from the top of three square stone steps. On the apex of the column was a sun-dial. This Cross had long been pronounced a nuisance; and fervent were the wishes for its removal by those who had to travel that road on a dark night, as frequent collisions took place from its being so much in the way of the traffic. When any one, however, spoke of its removal, the old inhabitants so strongly protested against its being touched, that the authorities gave up all hope of ever overcoming the prejudice in favour of its remaining.

However, a serious accident having occurred, it was at length determined by the late Sir William Shaw, to do what others dared not. One dark and stormy winter's night, when all Everton was at rest--for there were no old watchmen then to wake people up with their cries--two persons might have been seen stealing towards the Cross, in the midst of the elemental war which then raged. One of them bore a lantern, while the other wheeled before him a barrow, laden with crowbar, pickaxe, and spade. The rain descended in torrents, and the night was as dark as the deed they were about to commit could possibly require. They approached the ancient gathering place, where, in olden times, during the sweating sickness, the people from Liverpool met the farmers of the district and there paid for all produce by depositing their money in bowls of water.

Amidst the storm the two men for a moment surveyed their stony victim, and then commenced its destruction. First, with a strong effort, they toppled over the upper stone of the column; then the next, and the next. They then wheeled them away, stone by stone, to the Round House on Everton-brow, wherein each fragment was deposited. The base was then ruthlessly removed and carried away, and at length not a vestige was left to mark the spot where once stood Everton Cross--raised doubtless by pious hands on some remarkable occasion long forgotten.

The Cross was thus safely housed and stored away in the Round House, and no one was the wiser. When morning dawned the astonishment of the early Everton birds was extreme. From house to house--few in number, then--ran the news that Everton Cross had disappeared during the storm of the previous night. The inhabitants soon mustered on the spot, and deep and long and loud were the lamentations uttered at its removal. Who did it? When? How? At length a whisper was passed from mouth to mouth--at first faintly and scarcely intelligible--until, gathering strength as it travelled, it became at length boldly asserted that the Father of Lies had taken it away in the turbulence of the elements. And so the news spread through Liverpool, in the year 1820, that the Devil had run off with the Cross at Everton.

My old friend, who many a time chuckled over his feat, and who told me of his doings, said that for many years he feared to tell the truth about it, so indignant were many of the inhabitants who knew that its disappearance could not have been attributable to satanic agency. My friend used to say that he had hard work to preserve his gravity when listening to the various versions that were prevalent of the circumstance.

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/wor...3787&pageno=48


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