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 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.
Details
The monument includes a medieval wayside cross and boundary stone known as the
Leswidden Stone beside the road linking the adjacent parishes of St Just and
Sancreed in the West Penwith peninsula in west Cornwall.
The Leswidden Stone survives as an upright granite shaft, 0.93m high, set in a
rectangular granite base stone. The shaft measures 0.34m wide by 0.3m thick at
the base, widening to 0.44m at the top. The shaft is roughly shaped, of
rectangular section, wider at the top than at the base. The north west face of
the shaft is straight upright, but the south east face slopes inwards to the
base. Incised in the upper face of the shaft is a small equal limbed cross,
measuring 0.12m south east to north west by 0.14m north east to south west.
The shaft is cemented into the rectangular base slab, which measures 1.2m
south east to north west by 1m north east to south west and is 0.21m high
above ground level.
The Leswidden Stone is situated by the south west side of a road linking the
parishes of St Just and Sancreed on the west Penwith peninsula at the point
where it is crossed by tracks to the medieval chapel of Bosence, 1.2km to the
north east, and to the medieval chapel and well at Carn Euny, 1.4km to the
south east. The historian Langdon in 1896 records the monument at this
location, considering it to be the stump of a wayside cross and noting it is
also at the junction of the early estates of Carn Glaze, Bartinney and
Leswidden, hence combining the functions of a wayside cross with a boundary
stone.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
26239
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
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 Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
