Another short article from the pen/keyboard of Myghal Map Serpren.

Trelissick House and gardens can be found at Feock near Truro in Cornwall.

Trelissick was recorded as ‘Trelesyk’ in 1275CE which translates from the Cornish ‘tre Lesyk’ as ‘Leidic’s farm’.

The property which is now managed by the National Trust incorporates the grand house which was designed in the 1750s and its surrounding grounds.

A round-headed, granite cross can be found standing approximately 300 yards to the South East of the house.

Dating from the Medieval Period (1066CE to 1539CE) and set on a steep bank in woodland, this is not the original home of the cross which is thought to have been brought from its true site of Tredrea in St. Erth where it was in the higher corner of the orchard in 1844CE.

Trelissick Cross – note the figure of Christ in relief and the damage at the top right of the cross.

As noted by Preston-Jones, Langdon and Okasha in their ‘Ancient and High Crosses of Cornwall’ (University of Exeter Press, 2021), “Many wayside crosses were ‘rescued’ by local gentry and moved to their estates and gardens to act as landscape or garden features.’” Thus it appears that the cross at Trelissick joined many others being uprooted from their original sites around Cornwall and repurposed as garden ‘ornaments’.

Now scheduled and protected, the cross which is constructed of a coarse-grained granite, has one side of the head cut off and stands at approximately 3 feet 7 inches in height.

The front of the cross bears a figure of Christ in relief. Meanwhile, the back has traces of a very defaced long shafted cross with incised outlines.

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