Details

The monument includes a wayside cross, situated close to a road junction between Cross Street and Church Street in Helston. The cross survives as a decorated wheel-head and shaft in a modern base, set into a pavement and backing onto a garden hedge. The cross measures up to 0.9m high. The head and shaft are decorated on one side with a Latin cross in relief with flared arms and head, and the shaft of the relief cross extends down the shaft of the cross itself. The cross head was first described by Langdon in 1896. The shaft was found subsequently, in 1900, and incorporated into the pavement. The wayside cross is thought to be close to its original location.

The cross is Listed Grade II* (385467).

Sources: HER:-
PastScape Monument No:-425405

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. Despite having been separated from its shaft and incorporated into a pavement for a considerable time, this restored cross survives comparatively well and is likely to be close to its original location.

Source: Historic England