Saint Laudus Church, Mabe, Cornwall – the churchyard monuments

Myghal Map Serpren continues our look at the church and churchyard of Mabe, near Penryn in Cornwall.

The Mediaeval Cross

A Mediaeval (1066 to 1539) wheel-headed wayside cross is situated in the churchyard of Saint Laudus just to the left of the South porch of the main church building.

This granite monument stands on a modern base and measures approximately three feet three inches in height with the cross head being around one foot three inches in diameter and the shaft a little over a foot in width with an overall thickness of eight inches.

The cross was first recorded during the 1890s as being set against the wall of the nearby vicarage and its original site remains unknown. It was placed in its current position and orientated East-West during the 1920s.

Each side of the monument displays a very fine Latin cross set in relief with the lower limb extending down the shaft further on one side than the other.

It seems likely that the cross was re-cut quite possibly when it was removed from an earlier site to the then vicarage.

The Prehistoric Menhir

A Prehistoric menhir stands in the churchyard of Saint Laudus around thirty feet South of the church tower.

This standing stone has been dated to between 500000BCE to 42 CE and two very small equal armed crosses measuring around four inches across and by between five and six inches in height were cut into the South West and North East sides on an undetermined date during the period 410CE to 1539CE.

The Mabe Monolith

Standing at a little over six feet six inches in height and measuring approximately one foot six inches across each side, later work carried out at the top of the stone appears to have been carried out to allow for a lantern to be mounted on it possibly during the 19^th century.

It is very possible that this ‘Christianised’ standing stone has stood here since long before the arrival of the religion and remained during the construction of the lann and later, the church. Of granite, it would represent a considerable effort to move the monument and so the carving of crosses into its faces may have occurred to make its presence more acceptable.

Saint Laudus Church is now a Listed Building as is the Mediaeval cross and Prehistoric menhir, and the site remains as a place of active Christian worship with beautiful views across the valley and reservoir below.

References:

Placenames in Cornwall and Scilly – Craig Weatherhill, Wessex Books in association with Westcountry Books, Launceston, Cornwall 2005

The Cornish Church Guide and Parochial History of Cornwall – Charles Henderson, D. Bradford Barton 1964

Norman Architecture In Cornwall – A Handbook To Old Cornish Ecclesiastical Architecture – Edmund H. Sedding FRIBA, Ward and Co. B.T. Batsford and Co. London and J. Pollard, Truro, 1909 https://archive.org/details/normanarchitectu00sedd/page/n5/mode/2up

The Buildings of England: Cornwall – Nikolaus Pevsner, Yale University Press, Newhaven and London, 1951 et al. https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780300095890/mode/2up

Stone Crosses in West Cornwall – Andrew Langdon, The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies, 1999