Summary

Wayside cross east of St Buryan.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 9 December 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

This monument includes a wayside cross situated in a roadside hedge to the east of the settlement of St Buryan. The cross survives as a roughly circular socket stone measuring 1.1m in diameter and 0.2m thick with a central square socket hole of 0.25m which completely pierces the stone. It does not correspond with any known local cross shaft. First recorded by Langdon in 1896 it had already been built into the hedge on its side. Its original location is not known.

The cross is listed Grade II.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Wayside crosses are one of several types of Christian cross erected during the medieval period, mostly from the 9th to 15th centuries AD. In addition to serving the function of reiterating and reinforcing the Christian faith amongst those who passed the cross and of reassuring the traveller, wayside crosses often fulfilled a role as waymarkers, especially in difficult and otherwise unmarked terrain. The crosses might be on regularly used routes linking ordinary settlements or on routes which might have a more specifically religious function, including providing access to religious sites for parishioners and funeral processions. Wayside crosses vary considerably in form and decoration but several regional types have been identified. The Cornish wayside crosses form one such group. The commonest type includes a round, or 'wheel', head on the faces of which various forms of cross were carved. The design was sometimes supplemented with a relief figure of Christ. Less common forms include the 'Latin' cross, where the cross-head itself is shaped within the arms of an unenclosed cross and, much rarer, the simple slab with a low-relief cross on both faces. Over 400 crosses of all types are recorded in Cornwall. Wayside crosses contribute significantly to our understanding of medieval routeways, settlement patterns and the development of sculptural traditions and their survival is somewhat differential because of periods of religious turbulence during the Reformation when many were subject to damage or partial destruction by iconoclasts. The wayside cross east of St Buryan bears witness to such a turbulent history since the rest of the cross is missing.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:-422498

Source: Historic England