The Rood of Grace was a crucifix kept at Boxley Abbey in Kent in southeast England. It was claimed to be miraculous for the wooden likeness of Jesus was said to move or come to life. The Rood's renown was such that Boxley became a pilgrimage site. At Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, it was discovered that the statue contained wires and other contrivances to create the so-called miracle. After this discovery, the Rood was shown off by the newly Protestant government to denouncement the Roman Catholics, and was eventually burned at London.
According to tradition, the Rood was brought to Boxley Abbey on a stray horse. Considering that a miracle, the monks of the abbey took the crucifix. William Lambarde, in his 1570 book, Perambulation of Kent, describes how the Rood was created by an English carpenter taken prisoner by the French in order to ransom himself.
The Rood was able to take various facial expressions, which differed based on the amount of the offerings. After the exposure of the fraud at the dissolution of the monasteries, the Rood was paraded around various market towns, including Maidstone, Kent. On 12 February 1538 John Hilsey, Bishop of Rochester, denounced the Rood of Grace as a fraud, exhibited its machinery and broke it to pieces.[1] The Rood was eventually burned in London along with numerous other statues of Roman Catholic saints.