St Ingunger Cross, 240m south-east of St Ingunger Farm

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 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 with 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 St Ingunger Cross has survived well, earlier records confirming it in its present position at this road junction. It forms a good example of a wheel-head cross, complete with its head, shaft and base. Its position on an ancient route across the Cornish peninsula, used since the prehistoric period and later by medieval pilgrims, demonstrates well the continuity of such major routeways and the relationship between wayside crosses and early thoroughfares. This relationship is shown at a more detailed level by the cross's location on a route to the parish church at Lanivet.

Details

The monument includes a medieval wayside cross, the St Ingunger Cross, and a 2m protective margin, situated beside a road junction in central Cornwall, on an ancient route across mid-Cornwall linking Padstow on the north coast with Fowey on the south coast. The St Ingunger Cross survives as an upright granite cross set in a large groundfast granite boulder. The cross has a round or 'wheel' head, 0.49m in diameter and 0.12m thick. The head is decorated on both principal faces by a low-relief cross with widely expanded arms meeting the outer edges of the head. The head and shaft were originally formed from a single block but due to a subsequent break, the head has been cemented to the shaft at the neck, a repair that had been made prior to 1896 when the antiquary A G Langdon recorded the cross. The shaft is plain, undecorated and rectangular in section, measuring 0.28m across its north and south faces by 0.2m thick. The shaft rises to a height of 0.81m from its emergence at the centre of the base-slab: a large, roughly shaped, sub-rectangular granite boulder measuring 1m east-west by 0.73m north-south, and rising 0.27m above ground level. The cross is situated on the northern side of a road junction on a major ancient route across central Cornwall linking the Camel and Fowey estuaries. This route, the usage of which is considered to extend back into the prehistoric period, is marked by several other surviving medieval wayside crosses, reflecting a medieval function as a pilgrimage route for travellers from Ireland and Wales to holy sites on the Continent. The St Ingunger Cross is also situated 300m south-east of the broadly contemporary St Congar's Well, and marks one of several thoroughfares within the parish to the church at Lanivet. The surface of the metalled road passing south of the cross and the footpath guidepost, also to the south of the cross, are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath these features 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.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

24260

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Bowen, E G, Saints, Seaways and Settlements in the Celtic Lands, (1977)
Halliday, F E, A History of Cornwall, (1975)
Keast, J, The Story of Fowey, (1987)
Langdon, A G, Old Cornish Crosses, (1896)

Other
Title: 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Map; SX 06/16; Pathfinder Series 1347, Bodmin Source Date: 1989 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
Given at meeting on 19/7/1993, Information spoken to MPP Fieldworker by Mr A.G. Langdon, (1993)

End of official list entry

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