Details

The monument includes a medieval wayside cross situated in St Peter's
churchyard, Flushing, on the south coast of west Cornwall.
The wayside cross, which is Listed Grade II, is visible as an upright shaft of
granite with a round or `wheel' head, measuring 0.77m in overall height. The
head measures 0.61m high by 0.63m wide and is 0.26m thick. The principal faces
are orientated east-west. Both principal faces are decorated. The east face
bears an incised figure of Christ, set low down on the head, and extending
onto the shaft. The figure has outstretched arms, extending to the lower edge
of the cross-head, and is wearing a tunic; it appears to be without feet.
There is an incised line around the outer edge of the head on this face. The
west face bears a relief Latin cross, the lower limb extending down the length
of the shaft, and a wide bead around the outer edge of the head. At the neck
of the shaft on the lower limb of the cross motif is a 0.07m square brass
socket, which is 0.08m deep. The shaft measures 0.16m high by 0.44m wide and
is 0.26m thick. The shaft is set in a sub-rectangular area of concrete.
This wayside cross was found in 1891, in a pigsty on Porloe Farm, 1.25km
north east of St Peter's Church. It had been in use as the socket stone for a
threshing machine. It was removed by the Rev Forbes Savage who had it re-
erected in the churchyard at St Peter's.
The metalled surface of the footpath to the north and east of the cross and
the wooden post to the south fall within the cross's protective margin and 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.

This wayside cross in St Peter's churchyard in Flushing has survived well and
is a good example of a wheel headed cross. It has an unusual incised figure of
Christ motif. Its reuse as a pivot stone for a threshing machine in the 19th
century and its subsequent removal and re-erection in the churchyard,
illustrates 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)
Other
Consulted 1995, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN No. 18672.01,
Title: 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Map; SW 83; Pathfinder Series 1366
Source Date: 1984
Author:
Publisher:
Surveyor:

Source: Historic England