Trevalsa Cross, 350m north-west of Trerice Farm

Summary

A medieval wayside wheel-head cross, known as Trevalsa Cross, freestanding on a grass verge on a junction of minor roads between the farms of Trevalsa and Trerice.

Reasons for Designation

Trevalsa Cross, a medieval wayside wheel-head cross 350m north-west of Trerice Farm, St Allen, near Truro, Cornwall is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Rarity: as a good example of a neatly executed wayside cross, retaining some regional features which are considered unusual for its type;
* Survival: the cross survives well despite its past use as a gatepost, and its careful restoration in the late C20 adds to the recognition of its importance;
* Potential: the cross contributes significantly to our understanding of the development of medieval religious beliefs, routeways and settlement patterns, both on a regional and national scale;
* Group value: with the scheduled wayside crosses at the Church of St Allen, particularly as the Trevalsa Cross is the only example from this group considered to be in its historic location.

History

Wayside crosses are one of several types of Christian cross erected during the medieval period, mostly from the C9 to the C15 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 Yorkshire 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, with the spaces between the cross arms occasionally 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, a 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.

Trevalsa Cross, also known as Lower Town Cross, is one of seven crosses or fragments of medieval crosses in St Allen parish, but the only one not located at the Church of St Allen (Grade II*); the three situated there are scheduled monuments. Trevalsa Cross was recorded in 1896 by the historian Arthur G Langdon when it was being used as a gatepost to a nearby field locally-called ‘Twelve O’Clock Meadow’. It was buried head down to a depth of about half its height and on excavation it was found that half of its head was missing. The cross was re-erected by the roadside at the junction of minor roads between Trerice and Trevalsa farms and Zelah village before 1907; it is marked on the Ordnance Survey (OS) map of that date. In 1909 it was recorded by Stephens as being obscured by vegetation, and in 1914 he photographed it unobscured in front of a hedge.

By 1980 the cross had been positioned in a roadside drainage ditch with the fractured side of its head facing the road and painted as a signpost to Zelah and the A30. In 1981 the missing piece of the cross head was found at Trerice Farm and placed in the Church of St Allen. By 1993 the cross was recorded as leaning into the ditch and largely obscured by vegetation. Around this time, the significance of the cross was highlighted by A Langdon, and as a result the paint was cleaned from the head by the county highways department, and a project ensued to restore and re-erect the cross.

In August 1996 the cross was removed from the ditch and the missing piece of the head was collected from the Church of St Allen, and both were sent to Somerset for restoration. The broken section was reattached using stainless-steel dowels and the missing areas packed with a coloured and textured lime mortar. A new cross base was made from surface moorland granite (a ‘grass rock’) from near St Breward. Following careful consideration, the medieval location of the cross was determined as near to where it was recorded in the late C19, being on the junction of roads linking the north-western parts of the parish with the Church of St Allen. The restored cross was re-erected on its new base in November 1996, some 4.5m from its previous position.

The cross stands at a point where historic trackways from Zelah and Trevalsa Farm unite and continue south to Trerice Farm and thence to the Church of St Allen. The track from Zelah was truncated by the duelling of the A30 in 2024 and is now disused except for field access.

Details

SUMMARY OF ASSET
A medieval wayside wheel-head cross, known as Trevalsa Cross, freestanding on a grass verge on a junction of minor roads between the farms of Trevalsa and Trerice.

DESCRIPTION
Trevalsa Cross survives as a restored wheel-head cross on an upright granite shaft set in a C20 granite base.

The head and shaft stand 1.14m above the base. The head measures approximately 0.46m high by 0.45m wide and is 0.18m thick. The cross faces north-west towards a hedge bank, and south-east towards the road. Each face of the head bears an equal-limbed cross carved in relief, the limbs meeting a roll moulding around the head; the roll moulding continues down the edges of the shaft on its south-east side. The shaft is 0.68m high and slightly tapers in width from 0.28m to 0.23m; it is 0.20m thick. Below the head on the north-west side of the shaft, a shoulder flange extends 0.08m; an equivalent projection on the opposite side of the neck has been removed. On both faces and on the south-east side of the shaft are small holes, presumably relating to the reuse of the cross as a gatepost.

The shaft is cemented into a C20 granite base set flush with the ground. The repair to the head is visible but the mortar is well-matched; sculptural details have not been recreated except for the roll moulding on top of the head.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The scheduled area is bounded to the north west by a hedge bank, with a 2m buffer over the grass verge to support the management of the monument.

EXCLUSIONS
The metalled surface of the modern road passing to the south east of the cross and the culvert to the north west are excluded from the scheduling but the ground beneath is included.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

24297

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Preston-Jones, A, Langdon, A, Okasha, E, Ancient and High Crosses of Cornwall, (2021), 242

Websites
Heritage Gateway: Cornwall & Scilly Historic Environment Record, accessed 03/06/2025 from https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=MCO6065&resourceID=1020

Other
Ordnance Survey, Cornwall (1907) (1:2500)
Cornwall Archaeological Unit / Preston-Jones, A and Langdon, A, The Trevalsa Cross, St Allen: Restoration and relocation of the Trevalsa Cross, St Allen, 1997

End of official list entry

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