Details

The monument includes a medieval wayside cross situated within the churchyard at Lanteglos by Fowey, on the south east coast of Cornwall.The wayside cross survives as an upright head and shaft of Pentewan stone set in a modern three step base.Pentewan stone is an intrusive white elvan from the south coast of Cornwall,which was used for intricate carvings during the medieval period in Cornwall.The cross-head has unenclosed arms,a form called a `Latin' cross,its principal faces orientated north west-south east.The overall height of the monument is 1.58m.The head measures 0.35m wide across the side arms,each of which are 0.16m high,and 0.12m thick.The upper limb is 0.15m high,and 0.1m thick.All three upper limbs have a 0.05m chamfer,on all four corners,giving them an octagonal section.The shaft is also of octagonal section,and measures 0.95m high by 0.2m wide at the base tapering to 0.13m at the top,and is 0.23m thick tapering to 0.15m at the top.There is a fracture across the shaft below the side arms,joined by a cement repair.The north,south,east and west sides of the shaft slope out 0.23m above the base to form the square-section moulded foot.The shaft is set in a square three stepped modern granite base.The top step measures 0.3m by 0.3m and is 0.09m high,the middle step measures 0.5m by 0.5m and is 0.1m high;the lowest step is 0.7m by 0.7m and is set flush with the ground,except to the south west where it is 0.12m high above ground.There is a small cement repair to the north corner of the lowest step.The cross shaft was found buried in the churchyard,and the head was found buried in mud at Pont Pill creek,1km to the north of the church.The head is water worn and had been used as a boat mooring.The style of this cross with its octagonal shaft and upper limbs suggest that it dates from the 14th-15th centuries.The antiquarian Leland in 1538 states that there was a chapel of St Wyllow near Lamelin at the head of the creek,about 0.5km west of Pont Pill.There were mills at Pont Pill which may be where the millstone base to the cross came from.The headstones to the north of the cross and the gravel surface of the footpaths to the north east,south east and south west where they fall within the protective margin of the cross,are excluded from the scheduling,but the ground beneath is included.The cross is Listed Grade II*.MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.It includes a two 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 ninth to fifteenth 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.This wayside cross in Lanteglos by Fowey churchyard has survived well and is a good example of the rather uncommon `Latin' cross type.It may have originally marked a chapel near Lamellin at the head of the creek to the north of the church.The reuse of the head as a mooring post, the burial of the shaft in the churchyard,and their re-erection in the churchyard at the end of the 19th century or beginning of the 20th century demonstrates well the changing attitudes to religion and changes in the local landscape since the medieval period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Henderson, C, The Cornish Church Guide, (1928)
Langdon, A, Stone Crosses in Mid Cornwall, (1994)
May, R G M, Lanteglos by Fowey History of St Wyllow, (1952)
Other
Consulted 1995, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN 26792,
Title: 1": 1 mile Ordnance Survey Map; sheet 31; Truro
Source Date: 1870
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Title: 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Map; SX 05/15; St Austell and Fowey
Source Date: 1980
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Source: Historic England