Tredinnick Cross, 450m east of Great Tredinnick

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.

Tredinnick Cross has survived well, despite its former reuse as a gatepost, and is a good example of the uncommon `Latin' cross type. Although this cross is not in precisely its original location, it remains close by and still maintains its original function as a waymarker, demonstrating well the role of wayside crosses in the medieval landscape.

Details

The monument includes a medieval wayside cross, known as Tredinnick Cross, situated by the roadside on a minor route from St Neot to Halfway House in the River Fowey valley. Tredinnick Cross survives as an upright granite head and shaft set on a modern granite base. The head has unenclosed arms, a form called a `Latin' cross, its principal faces orientated north-south. The overall height of the monument is 1.88m. The head measures 0.51m across the side arms, and is 0.17m thick. Both principal faces bear a relief Latin cross, the lower limb extending down the length of the shaft. On the south face an incised Latin cross has been carved on the relief cross motif. The shaft measures 0.31m wide by 0.19m thick. A hole on the east side of the shaft is evidence of its former reuse as a gatepost. The cross has been fractured below the side arms, and the shaft is cemented into a modern base, a roughly triangular slab of granite, measuring 1.55m east-west by 1.05m north-south, and 0.14m high. There is a small metal plaque on the base recording the discovery and re-erection of the cross. It reads `This ancient cross was discovered buried on this site in 1958. Restored and re-erected by Mr L.J.Rowe and Mr J.W.P.Coggin on behalf of the Liskeard Old Cornwall Society in 1960'. Tredinnick Cross was found in 1958 by Mr Rowe when widening a gateway; the head had been built into a hedge and the shaft had been reused as a gatepost. The original location of the cross is not known but was probably close to its present position as the fields around the cross were named Cross Park in the Tithe Apportionment Map of 1842. It has been suggested that the cross dates to the early 15th century, and may have been associated with the manor at Luna, 750m north of its present location.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

30442

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Langdon, A G, Stone Crosses in East Cornwall, (1996)

Other
Title: 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Map; SX 06/16; Pathfinder Series 1347 Source Date: 1989 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
Consulted June 1997, Cornwall SMR entry for PRN No. 17157,

End of official list entry

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