Medieval wayside cross at Whitecross, near Wadebridge

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 wayside cross at Whitecross has survived well, its old fracture neatly repaired. It remains as a marker on its original route and junction and forms a good example of a wheel-headed wayside cross. The location of this cross beside a crossroads on the ancient, and modern, main route through north Cornwall, demonstrates well the major function of wayside crosses, while its position on a route to a former ecclesiastical manor, now marked by a farm, shows both the longevity of many roads still in use and the development of the pattern and status of settlements since the medieval period. The surviving custom of whitewashing this cross's motif, resulting in the name of the adjacent village, illustrates the regard with which wayside crosses were, and still may be, held by the communities near which they were sited.

Details

The monument includes a medieval wayside cross and a 2m protective margin, situated beside a crossroads at Whitecross village, near Wadebridge in north Cornwall. The Whitecross wayside cross survives with an upright granite shaft and a round or 'wheel' head, 0.76m in overall height. The head measures 0.45m in diameter and is 0.18m thick. Each principal face displays an equal-limbed low relief cross measuring 0.36m high and 0.39m across the arms. The arms are slightly expanded, rising from 0.1m wide at their intersection to 0.13m wide at their terminal edges. The relief cross is whitewashed against the plain granite background, a longstanding local tradition. Traces of a narrow bead encircle the perimeter of each face, especially clear on the lower half of the west face. The rectangular-section, undecorated shaft rises 0.31m from the ground to the base of the head. It measures 0.32m wide by 0.25m thick. The shaft is fractured transversely and has been repaired with an iron staple 0.09m below the top of the shaft, clamping the two fragments of shaft together. Records from the 19th century indicate the fracture occurred before 1858 and the repair was made by a local blacksmith between 1858 and 1896. The same records indicate that the rising ground level of the roadside verge has increasingly submerged the lower part of the shaft; in 1858 the cross stood 1.27m high; in 1896 it stood 1.14m high and today only 0.76m is visible above the surface. This wayside cross is situated beside a crossroads at Whitecross, a hamlet to which the cross has given its name. The cross lies on the major ancient route through Cornwall behind the north coast, marked by other medieval wayside crosses. The cross also marks the crossroads with another route linking the Camel estuary to the north with Pawton, formerly a medieval ecclesiastical manor and now a farm, to the south. The modern road-sign and its post south-west 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.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

24272

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Langdon, A G, Stone Crosses of North Cornwall, (1992)
Langdon, A G, Old Cornish Crosses, (1896)

Other
Title: 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Map; SW 87/97; Pathfinder Series 1337 Source Date: 1981 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
AM7 scheduling documentation for CO 298, 1950,

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