Cross near Deviock Cottage

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1006652

Date first listed: 22-Mar-1932

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

National Grid Reference: SX 11048 68406

Summary

Wayside cross 30m south of Deviock Cottage.

Reasons for Designation

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 relocated the wayside cross 30m south of Deviock Cottage survives well and is largely intact with its decoration clearly visible.

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 on a roadside verge on the upper northern valley side of a tributary to the River Fowey. The cross survives as a decorated wheel head on a tall tapering shaft set into a socket stone on a replacement square plinth. The cross stands up to 2.2m high. Both faces of the head are decorated with a Maltese cross in relief and an incised line runs down the shaft on both sides. The angles beneath the head are chamfered. The cross originally stood at a junction in the lane to the east of Deviock and was re- erected in this location before 1907. It is believed to have once had a connection with the ancient chapel of ‘St Mary de Valle’.

Thought to be 15th century the cross is listed at Grade II.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number: CO 165

Legacy System: RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:-432574

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.