Details

The monument includes a medieval wayside cross and a protective margin around
it situated beside the road south of Sennen in west Cornwall, near the western
end of the main route through the Cornish peninsula and on the route around
the periphery of the Penwith peninsula in west Cornwall.
The Trevescan Cross, Listed Grade II , survives as an upright granite shaft
with a round `wheel' head, set against a wall beside the road. The cross rises
to an overall height of 1.49m above the ground. The head measures 0.53m high
by 0.61m wide and is 0.23m thick. Each principal face bears a relief Latin
cross 0.76m long by 0.61m wide; the side and upper limbs have slightly splayed
ends. The lowermost limb extends below the head along the upper 0.25m of the
shaft. The east face is partly obscured by the hedgebank. The rectangular-
section shaft is 0.96m high and tapers slightly from 0.39m wide at the neck to
0.38m wide at the base. The shaft has a cemented old fracture joint, 0.02m
wide, situated 0.71m above ground level.
The Trevescan Cross is situated at the east side of the road running south
from the parish church at Sennen, also forming the main route around the
southern periphery of the Penwith peninsula and only 1.25km east of the
western end of the main route, the modern A30, through the Cornish peninsula
at Land's End. Early records indicate that the cross has been moved
approximately 120m north from its former position close to the junction of the
route around the peninsula with the branch west to Land's End.
The fire hydrant sign to the south of the cross, the fire hydrant supply pipe
and its cover to the south west of the cross and the metalled surfaces of the
modern footpath and road to the west of the cross, all of which are within the
area of the protective margin, are excluded from the scheduling but the ground
beneath is included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

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 having a more specifically religious
function, including those providing access to religious sites for parishioners
and funeral processions, or marking long-distance routes frequented on
pilgrimages.
Over 350 wayside crosses are known nationally, concentrated in south west
England throughout Cornwall and on Dartmoor where they form the commonest type
of stone cross. A small group also occurs on the North York Moors. Relatively
few examples have been recorded elsewhere and these are generally confined to
remote moorland locations.
Outside Cornwall almost all wayside crosses take the form of a `Latin' cross,
in which the cross-head itself is shaped within the projecting arms of an
unenclosed cross. In Cornwall wayside crosses vary considerably in form and
decoration. The commonest type includes a round, or `wheel', head on the faces
of which various forms of cross or related designs were carved in relief or
incised, the spaces between the cross arms possibly pierced. The design was
sometimes supplemented with a relief figure of Christ and the shaft might bear
decorative panels and motifs. Less common forms in Cornwall include the
`Latin' cross and, much rarer, the simple slab with a low relief cross on both
faces. Rare examples of wheel-head and slab-form crosses also occur within the
North York Moors group. Most wayside crosses have either a simple socketed
base or show no evidence for a separate base at all.
Wayside crosses contribute significantly to our understanding of medieval
religious customs and sculptural traditions and to our knowledge of medieval
routeways and settlement patterns. All wayside crosses which survive as earth-
fast monuments, except those which are extremely damaged and removed from
their original locations, are considered worthy of protection.

The Trevescan Cross has survived well as a good example of a wheel headed
cross with an unusual form of cross motif. Although slightly relocated, it
remains a marker on its original route which combined an important regional
highway with a route within the parish to the church, demonstrating well the
major roles of wayside crosses and showing the longevity of many routes still
in use.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
consulted 1994, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 28535.4,
Saunders, A.D., AM7 scheduling documentation for CO 759, 1970, consulted 1994
Title: 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Map; SW 33/43/part 53; Pathfinder 1364
Source Date: 1989
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:

Source: Historic England