Landewednack Cross – a moving tale

We like to think of our ancient monuments as silent, unchanging sentinels, but this isn’t always the case, sometimes they go walkabout!

One of the delights of visiting Cornwall is the chance to catch up with friends who live in the area and on a recent trip Philip, a friend of ours who knows of my penchant for old stones, presented me with the gift of an old Francis Frith postcard. In a slight diversion from my usual prehistoric focus, the postcard depicts the old cross at Cross Common, Landewednack, a short distance east of Lizard town.

For those that don’t know, Cornwall is littered with old crosses of various forms, many of which date back to medieval times (9th-15th centuries). Whilst many remain in, or near their original positions, many crosses have been discovered in various odd situations: used as gateposts, fireplace lintels and church benches or built into church walls, hollowed out and used as feed troughs (ref. Sithney Church cross). The cross at Landewednack, just east of Lizard town, indicates the road down to the church and the postcard shows the cross as it was in 1907 when the photo was taken.

Arthur G Langdon, in Old Cornish Crosses (1898) describes the cross at Landewednack as follows:

The cross stands on the right-hand side of the road leading from Lizard town to the sea.

The edge of the stone is outlined by a bead, and there is an entasis on the left side only of the shaft, the right being slightly concave.

Dimensions. — Height, 4 ft. 11 in. ; width of head, 1 ft. 11 in. ; width of shaft, 1 ft. 4 in.

Front. — On the front is a Latin cross, nearly the full height of the stone, formed in a similar manner to that on the cross at Pradannack, Mullyon. Within the bead on the head is the upper portion of the cross ; it is equal-limbed, and extends to the neck. At this level the bottom of the lower limb is suddenly narrowed, and for the remainder of the distance is indicated by two widely incised lines. Between these lines and the bead on the angles are two plain surfaces, the upper ends of which, where they terminate at the neck, are rudely shaped to the narrowed parts of the shaft.

Back. — On the head is an equal-limbed cross in relief having widely expanded ends.

On the postcard, which presents the view looking back toward Lizard town, the cross is in exactly the same location noted some nine years previously by Langdon. On the Ordnance Survey 6″ map, Cornwall Sheet LXXXIV.SE & XC.NE, published in 1908 the location of the cross is clearly marked to the south of the road.

Curiosity got the better of me as I couldn’t recall having seen this cross in my travels, so I revisted the area. Today the view presents a much different story. Taking a comparison photo from roughly the same location shows that the cross is no more. The rough stone wall on the left is still there, as are many of the same buildings and rooftops:

The reason for the lack of the cross is evident on a Google Streetview image – the cross would have been located roughly where today’s junction lines are painted, close to the wall. This would present an obvious safety hazard.

Google Streetview image of the location of the cross in 1907.

However, the cross has not moved far, just a few yards northeast of its previous location onto a grass verge on the opposite side of the junction. The Pastscape entry for the monument describes the cross as “just about in situ” again after several moves. This assertion is repeated in the English Heritage description of the monument. If this is true, and the cross is now ‘back where it belongs’, then the postcard is an interesting relic in the history of the cross.

There is just enough space to squeeze between the cross and the hedge to take a facsimile of the original postcard, showing the extent of the shift in location:

If anyone has any information about when or why the cross was moved, we’d be interested to hear it! A good resource on Cornwall’s old crosses is Arthur G Langdon’s original ‘Old Cornwall Crosses‘, available for free download in various formats from the Internet Archive. Alternatively a more up to date listing can be found in Andrew Langdon’s (no relation) excellent series of booklets available from the Old Cornwall Society.

For information on some more ancient stones on the Lizard peninsula, see our brief tour.