A
high cross or
standing cross (, , ) is a free-standing
Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique
Early Medieval tradition in
Ireland and
Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. These probably developed from earlier traditions using wood, perhaps with metalwork attachments, and earlier pagan Celtic memorial stones; the
Pictish stones of Scotland may also have influenced the form. The earliest surviving examples seem to come from the territory of the
Anglo-Saxon kingdom of
Northumbria, which had been converted to Christianity by Irish missionaries; it remains unclear whether the form first developed in Ireland or Britain.