Types of Crosses
FOUR HOLED CROSSES - Feature a carved cross on the head supported by a ring. They may be decorated with a combination of ornament including Crucifix figures, interlace work, key-patterns and scrollwork. The majority date from the 10th to 11th centuries and include some of Cornwall’s most celebrated Christian monuments (Fig. 1).
WHEEL-HEADED CROSSES - Date from the 12th century onwards, although there are a small number of earlier examples. They have a solid round head, a rectangular shaft and little decoration, only a cross symbol carved on each face of the wheel-head, either in relief, or incised. In west Cornwall they sometimes display a simple Crucifix figure in addition to a cross (Fig. 2). Most were set up as wayside or boundary crosses.
LATIN CROSSES - Are the prevailing parochial style in the parishes of Paul in west Penwith and St Cleer and St Neot on Bodmin Moor. About 8% of Cornwall's crosses are of this type and like the wheel-headed crosses they are also used as boundary or wayside crosses (Fig. 3).
LATE-MEDIEVAL LATIN CROSSES - Have chamfered edges to their shafts, giving them an octagonal section and date from the 13th to 16th centuries. These are found mostly in the south-east part of the county and also marked routes to the church and boundaries. One example is Bosent Cross on the boundary between St Pinnock and Liskeard (Fig. 4).
LANTERN CROSSES - Are sculptured crosses with a four-sided head, either square or rectangular, set on an octagonal shaft. Carved on each of the four faces on the head are biblical images, with the principal face showing the Crucifixion, or Holy Trinity, while other faces depict the Virgin Mary and child, bishops, or abbots and popular saints. These crosses date from the late 14th to early 16th centuries. Perhaps the best-known lantern cross is in the churchyard at St Mawgan in Pydar (Fig. 5).
BASE-STONES - The bases or socket-stones which support these crosses vary in style. Most are simply large granite boulders with a mortice or socket cut in them, while the bottom of the cross-shaft would have had a tenon cut on it to fit the mortice. The base-stones which supported the late-medieval latin and lantern crosses were more elaborately carved stones having a square sectioned bottom, with chamfered corners to create an octagonal upper surface (Fig. 6).
Function of the Crosses
CHURCHYARD CROSSES - The most elaborate and often the earliest examples of crosses in Cornwall are found in our parish churchyards. Many were set up to mark a Christian burial ground, others as preaching crosses, or memorials. These crosses would have been special commissions, either by a school of craftsmen, perhaps working within a monastic centre, or an itinerant craftsman.
In most cases the churchyard or burial ground existed before the building of a parish church and some of these crosses may have been erected to mark the early cemeteries or burial grounds, prior to the building of the church. Some are tall impressive monuments which may have acted as a focal point in the burial ground, where people may have gathered to hear the word of God. A churchyard cross at Cardinham (Fig. 7) has the remains of a name carved on its shaft, suggesting that the cross may have commemorated an important person in the area, perhaps a local priest or secular lord.
The majority of these churchyard crosses were elaborately decorated. There is no evidence to suggest that any of the churchyard crosses in Cornwall are earlier than the late 9th century, and most are considered to be between the 10th and 11th centuries. The setting up of churchyard crosses continued through the centuries, with less decorated examples following from the 12th century and lantern crosses by the 15th century.
WAYSIDE CROSSES - The most common Cornish cross is the wayside cross. As the name implies, these stood beside roads, ancient tracks and footpaths. The main function of these crosses was to mark the route to the parish church. In medieval Cornwall outlying farms and hamlets were usually linked to the churchtown by the most direct and level route, and today minor roads, tracks and footpaths can still be seen radiating from the parish church. Some wayside crosses also marked longer distance routes, from parish to parish, or marked tracks to sites of pilgrimage, monastic sites, ancient chapels and holy wells. The Middle Moor Cross at St Breward marks a route skirting the high ground between St Breward and Davidstow (Fig. 8).
Occasionally, crosses were placed beside the banks of rivers to mark a safe fording or bridging place. At St Clether on the east side of Bodmin Moor, where an ancient track once crossed the River Inney, a large wheel-headed cross stands on the south bank marking shallow water and a firm footing (Fig. 9).
CROSSES MARKING SPECIAL SITES - On the beach at Marazion there is a rock known as Chapel Rock which, it is said, was used by pilgrims as the last shrine before visiting St Michael’s Mount; here a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary stood until 1645. Beside the causeway, half-way across, between Chapel Rock and the Mount, is the base of an ancient cross, still in situ (Fig. 10). The cross is said to have been broken down in a storm in 1750. As well as marking the safe causeway it must have also marked one of the final places of devotion before reaching the goal of their pilgrimage on the Mount.
A Latin cross still stands next to the holy well at St. Cleer on Bodmin Moor (Fig. 11). Some crosses stood at chapel sites, like the cross now at Lanherne Convent at St Mawgan in Pydar, which was originally discovered at the site of a pre-Reformation chapel at Roseworthy in Gwinear parish (Fig. 11b).
BOUNDARY CROSSES – As well as marking tracks and footpaths to the church, the crosses also marked hundred boundaries, parish boundaries, or the boundaries of glebe land. They may also have marked monastic land and the extended sanctuaries that a very few parish churches once possessed. During the post medieval period several crosses were adopted as manorial or personal boundary markers, with initials being carved on the cross or the base-stone. Some crosses had a dual function, marking the route to the parish church, and a boundary.
At Bodmin, Callywith Cross still marks the parish boundary between Bodmin and Cardinham, while on Tregonetha Downs a cross known as 'Crossy Ann’ marks the spot where the three parishes of St Columb Major, St Wenn and Roche meet (Fig. 12). The Nine Maidens Down Cross which now stands in the grounds of Clowance Estate in Crowan parish originally marked the boundary of no less than four parishes. In 1613, the glebe land at Cardinham was also marked by four crosses, while at St Wenn, the Rostigan Cross is mentioned as a bound stone to the glebe. The Four Hole Cross on Bodmin Moor stands beside the main A30 road across the moor, on the hundred and parish boundaries and had the letters GLW carved across its medieval decoration in the 19th century when the cross was adopted as a boundary marker for the manor of Great Lord’s Waste (Fig. 13).
Wayside and boundary crosses are thought to have been carved by stonemasons or sculptors from the local area and this may explain the similarities in the style of monuments within certain parishes.
MEMORIAL CROSSES - In addition to those decorated and inscribed crosses in in churchyards, there are some that stand out in the countryside. One of the most famous memorial crosses in Cornwall is the King Doniert Stone at St Cleer, which is the pedestal of a fine late 9th century decorated cross (Fig. 14). Another example stands on Waterpit Down in Minster parish.
VILLAGE/MARKET CROSSES - In Cornwall there are only a few true village or market crosses, although in some cases a wayside or churchyard cross appears to have been adapted for this function. Market crosses were usually set up by the Church, as a reminder of the Christian faith during the day to day bustle of secular life. In St. Ewe are the remains of a market cross on a stepped base, which is still one of the focal points of the village (Fig. 15) and another in an open area outside the churchyard at St Buryan. In the past, proclamations might be read out at the village or market cross and the pillory and stocks were traditionally set up there. At these crosses merchants sold their goods and so some became named after the goods for sale. For example at Winchester there is a Butter Cross, while the canopied cross at Salisbury is known as the Poultry Cross. Documentary records indicate that at both Redruth and St Columb Major there was once a Fish Cross, although neither survives today.
By the 15th century and later, some market crosses had elaborate shelters built over them to protect traders and tax collectors from the weather. Gothic style structures and canopies of octagonal plan, made of timber or stone, can still be seen in many English villages, and even if they did not shelter a cross, the structures themselves might nonetheless be known as Market Crosses. Good examples can still be found at Salisbury, Malmesbury and Chichester. The Newport Cross at St Stephen by Launceston is the only example of a market cross enclosed by a canopy in Cornwall; but this structure dates to the early 19th century (Fig. 16). As the need for larger covered areas increased many of these structures were demolished to make way for more conventional market halls.
Discovering Cornish Crosses
During the past 30 years a number of wayside crosses have been discovered. Most of these have been found in use as gateposts, or built into hedges. Some have been exposed when field entrances have been widened to receive larger modern farm machinery, while others have been found when gateposts have been damaged. In 1993 in Constantine parish, a wheel-headed cross was discovered following the erosion of a hedge by cattle and in 1991 a cross-head was found buried in the bottom of a garden hedge at Lanivet. Further crosses have been discovered in use as gateposts at Camborne 1988 (Fig. 17), Lanlivery 1990, St Neot 1999 and St Clether 2002.
The ways in which these medieval Christian relics have been adapted to a variety of secular purposes is remarkable. After the Reformation and with the development of Non-Conformism, redundant wayside crosses became no more than a handy piece of stone and they have been adopted as gateposts, footbridges across mill leats and streams, lintels for fireplaces, door jambs etc. Some were put to more unusual uses for example, as a support for a bee hive, to form a pivot for a horse-drawn threshing machine and in some cases their heads were hollowed out for use as pig troughs.
The base stones, large granite boulders with a mortice cut in them to receive a tenon, appear to have been of less use to the landowner. Due to their weight, they were not normally moved a great distance but pushed up against the nearest hedge and abandoned. A number can be seen built into the foot of hedges with their mortice exposed to view; examples are at Trungle in Paul, Heamoor in Madron and Teason in Cardinham (Fig. 18). An old base-stone can therefore be a good indication that you are near the original site of an ancient cross.
The discovery of a churchyard cross nowadays is rare. Many were found built into the fabric of churches during the Victorian period of church restoration but renovations of such extent do not take place nowadays. However, in 2006, a decorated cross-shaft was identified built horizontally into the external wall of the north aisle at Paul parish church, where it still exists today (Fig. 19).
During the 19th century, a number of crosses were discovered buried deep in churchyards, often by the parish sexton whilst digging a grave. Today most churchyards are closed to burials so the likelihood of a cross being discovered is more remote. So where do we look? I always examine gateposts and stiles whilst out walking and have been rewarded on more than one occasion; however it is actually the case that most new discoveries are made by accident - even though documentary evidence to support their positions may be found retrospectively. Field names can be a clue to discovery: examination of the Tithe Apportionment maps and schedules reveals many field names like Parc an Grouse- Cornish for 'Field of the Cross'. Estate maps are also a good source for potential cross sites. I believe there are still more ancient crosses to be found in the Cornish countryside.
Modern Crosses
Many replicas of Cornish crosses were carved in the Victorian era for use as gravestones and later after the First World War as parish memorials. However, in more recent times, the stone cross has been adopted as both a religious and a cultural symbol in Cornwall. The image of a cross may be used as a logo by organisations, businesses and charities to promote their Cornish identity. At the time of the Millennium, several towns and villages set up granite cross to commemorate the occasion. Some were set up as purely Christian symbols by church groups, while others were set up by local councils, history groups and Old Cornwall Societies as cultural symbols.
At Liskeard, no less than six crosses were erected by the Liskeard Churches Millennium Steering Group, one in the town centre on the Parade and others on the approach roads into the town. At Helston a tall cross was set up beside the Penzance road at Sithney Common Hill by Helston Town Council and Helston Old Cornwall Society. Another even taller cross was set up at Bodmin town wall by a joint committee including members of Bodmin Town Council, the County Council and the town forum to mark the western entrance to the borough (Fig. 20). At the eastern end of Newquay a Celtic cross modelled on the Nevern cross in south Wales was set up again for the millennium, while further crosses have been erected at St Dennis, Mawnan Smith, Landrake, Redruth and Pelynt.
At the village of Rame in Wendron parish, on the Penryn to Helston road, a replica of a medieval cross that once stood in the village was erected in 2000. The original was moved to the grounds of Scorrier House in 1849 to act as a garden feature; it still stands there, on top of a rockery. At Newlyn East a modern cross carved from Constantine granite was set up in a medieval base-stone that survives beside the roadside (Fig. 21).
