Details

The monument includes a medieval wayside cross situated to the west of the
church in Luxulyan churchyard in southern central Cornwall.

The wayside cross survives as an upright granite shaft with a round, `wheel'
head set in a large irregularly shaped boulder. The overall height of the
monument is 1.66m. The principal faces are orientated east-west. The head
measures 0.48m high by 0.55m wide and is 0.17m thick. Both principal faces
bear a relief equal limbed cross with expanded ends to the limbs with traces
of a narrow bead around the outer edge of the head. There is a 0.05m diameter
hole near the top of the head on the east face. The shaft measures 0.83m high
by 0.39m wide at the base tapering to 0.33m at the top and is 0.2m thick at
the base tapering slightly to 0.18m at the top. On the east face is a 0.06m
diameter hole near the base of the shaft. This hole and the one on the head
are the result of the former reuse of the cross as a gatepost. The shaft is
cemented into a large boulder of Luxulyanite, a local volcanic rock. This
boulder measures 1.19m north-south by 0.67m east-west and is 0.35m high.

The wayside cross is located to the west of the church, by the west entrance
into the churchyard. The cross originally stood on the Bodmin road at a place
called Three Stiles, near Consence. It may have been in use as a gatepost at
this site. The base is believed to be built into a hedge close to this site.
The cross was removed to a rockery in the vicarage garden by the Reverend
Grylls between 1813-1853 when he was vicar of Luxulyan. By 1896 when the
historian Langdon recorded the cross, it had been re-erected in its present
position in the churchyard at Luxulyan.

The metalled surface of the footpath passing to the east and north of the
cross, the concrete filled cattlegrid, coffin resting stone and gates at
the entrance to the churchyard to the south, and the iron gate to the
north west where they lie within the protective margin of the cross 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 wayside cross in Luxulyan churchyard has survived well and is a good
example of a wheel headed cross. Its former reuses as a gatepost, and as a
garden ornament, and its subsequent removal and re-erection in the churchyard
demonstrates well the changing attitudes to religion and their impact on the
local landscape since the medieval period.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Langdon, A G, Old Cornish Crosses, (1896)
Langdon, A, Stone Crosses in Mid Cornwall, (1994)
Other
Title: 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Map; SX 05/15; St Austell and Fowey
Source Date: 1980
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:

Source: Historic England