The anglic stone cross

The cross is 2.65 meters high, 1.3 meters wide and 8-10 cm thick and carved out of a slab of garnet mica schist from Hyllestad. This cross is of the Anglian type, with curved cross arms. On the front is a 65 cm high and 55 cm wide Latin cross in relief. The Anglian shape makes this cross unique among the 60 stone crosses in Norway, and suggests that it may have been made by stonemasons from the British Isles. The tradition of erecting stone crosses is strong in these areas, and the early Christianization of Norway was strongly influenced by impulses from here.

Directly below the cross is a water spring which must have been a pagan sacrificial spring. A legend tells that Olav Haraldson set up the cross on Krossteigen to quell paganism from the source. Another legend tells that Olav shot three arrows in each direction from the court square, and set up a cross where each arrow landed. Cross examiner Fridtjov Birkeli believes that it was probably Håkon Adalsteinsfostre who set up the crosses together with Bishop Sigfrid from Glastonbory in South-West England in connection with the fact that the first court place for the Gulatinget may have been established here.

Krossen is part of the digital cultural walk in Eivindvik.