Summary

Wayside cross in the grounds at Glynn.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 2 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 the grounds at Glynn. The cross survives as a fragment of a cross shaft measuring approximately 1m high, 0.4m wide and 0.3m thick and decorated with rounded corners and a vine scroll carving, probably of 10th century date. The cross shaft was discovered in 1925 being used as the side piece of a mantelpiece in a ruined cottage on Bofindle Farm near Mount. It was brought to Glynn by Lord Vivian and was moved to its current position in 1966.

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 broken and relocated several times the wayside cross at Glynn still retains its unusual carving along the shaft which is of value for the study of its stylistic decoration.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:-432774

Source: Historic England