Three wayside crosses in the churchyard of St Sennara's Church

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.

The three wayside crosses in the churchyard of St Sennara's Church survive well as good examples of `wheel' headed wayside crosses. As a group they demonstrate well the variety of motifs to be found on wayside crosses, including Latin crosses, equal limbed crosses and the rare figure of Christ motif. The reuse of one cross as part of a stile, and another as building stone, their removal to the vicarage garden and later to the churchyard in the 19th century, demonstrates well the changing attitudes to religion and their impact on the local landscape since the medieval period.

Details

The monument, which falls into two separate areas of protection, includes three medieval wayside crosses situated in the churchyard of St Sennara's Church on the northern side of the Penwith peninsula in west Cornwall. All three crosses are Listed Grade II. One wayside cross is located on the south side of the church. This cross survives as an upright granite shaft with a round or `wheel' head mounted on a modern granite base. The overall height of the monument is 0.7m. The head measures 0.4m in diameter by 0.18m thick with the principal faces orientated east-west. Both principal faces display a relief Latin cross with slightly splayed ends to the limbs. The shaft, which measures 0.28m wide by 0.19m thick, is mounted on a modern block of granite which measures 0.56m north- south by 0.3m east-west and is 0.14m high. This cross was found in 1890 by Rev'd S Farwell Roe, the vicar of Zennor, built into a stile at Trevega, 3km north east of Zennor. The cross was removed to Zennor vicarage garden, where the historian, Langdon, recorded it in 1896. Later when Rev'd Roe moved to St Michael Penkevil he took the cross with him, and again, when he moved to St Pinnock in 1906, the cross went too. In 1930 the cross was placed on the grave of Mrs Roe in St Pinnock churchyard, and then in 1956 Rev'd Clowes, then vicar of Zennor, had the cross returned to the churchyard of St Sennara's Church and erected in its present position.

The other two crosses are located to the north west of the church and are cemented to a large granite memorial slab on the Borlase family grave. One cross is positioned on the eastern end of the grave slab. This is 0.75m high and survives as an upright granite shaft with a round `wheel' head which measures 0.46 in diameter and is 0.3m thick. The west principal face on the head displays a relief figure of Christ with outstretched arms, the legs extending down onto the shaft. A narrow bead runs around the outer edge of the head on this face. The east principal face bears a relief equal limbed cross. The northern side of the cross head has been fractured. This cross was found around 1850 built into the floor of Bridge Cottage, Trewey, now the Wayside Museum, 150m south west of the church. The Rev'd Borlase had the cross removed to the vicarage garden where it remained until his death in 1888 when it was moved to the churchyard and its present location on his gravestone. The Rev'd Borlase was a local antiquarian and vicar of Zennor. The gravestone also commemorates Admiral John Borlase.

The other cross is positioned on the western end of the grave slab. It survives as an upright granite round or `wheel' head 0.49m high by 0.47m wide and is 0.19m thick. The east principal face bears a relief figure of Christ with arms outstretched while the west principal face displays a relief equal limbed cross with expanded ends to the limbs. Both faces have a narrow bead around the outer edge of the head. This cross was found in a hedge at Tregerthen Farm, 1.25km north east of the church at Zennor. Before 1856 it was moved into the vicarage garden. After Rev'd Borlase's death the cross was moved into the churchyard and its present location on his gravestone.

The metalled surface of the footpath to the north of the cross located south of the church, and the gravestones to the east and west of the crosses to the north west of the church are excluded from the scheduling, where they fall within the monument's 2m protective margin, although 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:

31870

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Langdon, A G, Stone Crosses of West Penwith, (1997)
Langdon, A G, Stone Crosses of West Penwith, (1997)
Langdon, A G, Old Cornish Crosses, (1896)
Langdon, A G, Old Cornish Crosses, (1896)
Langdon, A G, Old Cornish Crosses, (1896)

Other
Title: 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Map; Explorer 102; Land's End Source Date: 1996 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.