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.
This medieval wayside cross has survived reasonably well. Despite some damage
to the head from its former reuse as a gatepost, sufficient survives to
confirm its original design which has been carefully followed in the neat
reconstruction of the head's missing portion. It is a good example of a wheel
head cross complete with head, shaft and base. Although moved from its
original location, it remains as a waymarker in the same parish and on an
analogous route towards the broadly contemporary chapel site at Chapel Amble,
demonstrating well the major role of wayside crosses.
Details
The monument includes a medieval wayside cross, known as Job's Cross, situated
beside a crossroads near Trewethern on a minor road linking St Kew with Chapel
Amble in north Cornwall.
Job's Cross survives with an upright granite shaft with a round, `wheel' head
set in a rectangular granite base, measuring 2.13m in overall height. The head
measures 0.55m high by 0.56m wide and 0.19m thick and is a composite of two
parts resulting from the partial reconstruction of the original damaged head
in 1952. The reconstructed part comprises the upper half and much of the lower
south eastern quarter of the head; the original part, integral with the shaft,
comprises the neck and the lower north western quarter of the head. The two
parts are neatly matched and meet along a cemented `L-shaped' join, angled
about the centre of the head. Each principal face is decorated with a relief
equal-limbed cross with splayed limbs, contained within a narrow peripheral
bead. The cross motif measures 0.46m long by 0.46m wide and is depicted in
higher relief on the north east face than on the south west. The original part
of the head contains the lower limb, the lower edge of the north west limb and
the sunken quadrant between them, sufficient to confirm the originality of the
design carved on the reconstructed part. The rectangular-section shaft
measures 1.38m high, 0.32m wide and 0.23m thick at the base, tapering slightly
to 0.2m at the neck. The shaft is set centrally in a large rectangular granite
basestone measuring 0.91m by 1.12m and 0.2m thick.
Job's Cross is situated on the west side of a fork in a staggered crossroads
on a minor road linking St Kew and its parish church, to Chapel Amble, the
site of a medieval chapel. Until its restoration from 1949 to 1952, the cross
was located 1.1km to the SSW at Job's Tenement, having previously served as a
gatepost beside a stream on a path linking Job's Farm with Carclaze on the
road to Chapel Amble. Corroded iron pegs of the gate-hinges remain embedded
near the midline of the cross's north east face, at the base of the head and
on the shaft, 0.4m above the base.
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.
