Churchyard of St Breage's church, beside porch

First mentioned 1865, dis-covered 'buried in the churchyard' (Blight 1865, 73). By 1896 set in presumably the present base, in current location (Langdon, Arthur 1896, 380)

St Breage

Monument broken and eroded but stable; ornament worn, much lichen; situation fair. 'If the illustration in Blight's "Churches of West Cornwall" is not that of another cross altogether, the defacement of the design has been very considerable since his time' (Peter, T. 1899, 348).Monument broken and eroded but stable; ornament worn, much lichen; situation fair. 'If the illustration in Blight's "Churches of West Cornwall" is not that of another cross altogether, the defacement of the design has been very considerable since his time' (Peter, T. 1899, 348).

Head and part of the shaft of a cross of rectangular section, set in an octagonal base. The base is plain but has a strongly chamfered edge. The cross-head resembles type E10, with a ring type b. The slightly splayed cross-arms have curved arm-pits. The ends of the arms are rounded, with the exception of the lower arm, which is cut in on the bottom edge.

The top arm is wider than the two horizontal arms, and the bottom arm is widest of all. The back of the cross is a strong red colour as a result of iron oxide staining, possibly caused by the cross's having lain for a prolonged period in stagnant water. Langdon, however, repeats a local tradition that this colouration was the result of blood-staining following a great battle at the foot of Godolphin Hill (Langdon, Arthur 1896, 380). The surface of the stone is pitted in places where small pebbles in the sandstone have fallen out.

A (broad): The upper half of the head is so eroded that no ornament remains; however worn traces of decoration survive on the lower half and especially in the bottom arm. Around the edge of the lower arm is a double incised edge-moulding, with traces of a single moulding only visible in the horizontal arms. On the head are five bosses (as Blight shows: Blight 1885, 114 and fig.), the central boss and the one in the bottom arm being clearest, and those in the horizontal and upper arms evident only as protruding areas of stone. In the bottom arm it can be seen that the boss overlies the edge-moulding, and that at the centre of the boss is a small hole. It is impossible to ascertain these details in the other three arms. Down each side of the shaft is an incised edge-moulding, within which are traces of decoration which may include a further boss, directly below the lower cross-arm, and a double-strand interlace pattern; however the decoration is so worn and so little survives of the shaft that this is far from certain.

B (narrow): On the end of the cross-arm, within an incised edge-moulding, is a motif which may be either an incised star or a relief-carved rosette. No decoration is visible on the very worn upper part of the ring, but on the lower part there are two diagonally-placed, interlacing ovals. On the shaft are clear remains of interlacing strands, within an incised edge-moulding. The strands are narrow and deeply modelled, with insufficient surviving to allow confident interpretation of the pattern.

C (broad): The cross-head is extremely worn, and the only decoration to be discerned are worn traces of a probable boss in the right and lower arms and traces of a possible double edge-moulding on the lower arm, below the boss. Similarly, only very slight traces of decoration can be made out on the shaft, but this may include a further small boss directly under the lower cross-arm, in the indentation of the edge-moulding.

D (narrow): On the end of the cross-arm is a worn square panel. Beneath this, the lower part of the ring contains worn traces of decoration within a faint incised edge-moulding. On the shaft, within an incised edge-moulding, are the deeply cut, narrow strands of a panel of interlace or fretwork whose pattern is now uncertain.

The cross is so eroded that it is difficult to make meaningful comment on the decoration. However, it is clear that, although small, this was one of the more highly decorated of Cornish crosses. Only a few other crosses in Cornwall, at Cardinham 1 and Gwinear 1 (Ills. 43–6, 94–7), have decoration on the ends of the cross-arms, and these are amongst the finest of Cornish crosses. Gwinear 1 has interlacing ovals on the end of the cross-arms while Breage has these on the ring. No other Cornish crosses have anything other than beading on the sides of the ring. Such as it is, the interlace on Breage appears well executed with narrow and deeply modelled strands. This is also like Gwinear 1, although it may just be that the sandstone of which the cross is carved was relatively easy to cut. The form of the cross-head is typical of most Cornish examples. However the five bosses on both sides of the head are unusual, being found elsewhere in Cornwall only on Wendron 1 (Ills. 243–5), a mere 6.5 km (4 miles) from Breage.

The base is octagonal and has a chamfered edge, suggesting that it is of later date than the cross. However the fact that both are carved from the same unusual stone may be evidence to the contrary: perhaps the base was re-cut to suit the style of a later period.

It is interesting that the bosses and decoration on faces A and B of the cross are as depicted by Blight (1885, 114 and fig.), since they were not seen by Langdon (Langdon, Arthur 1896, 381n) and doubted by Peter (Peter, T. 1899, 348). Yet photography with lights has revealed their presence, or at least the eroded traces of them. The cross had been found 'a few years ago...buried in the churchyard' when seen by Blight and one wonders whether erosion of the sandstone of which it is carved progressed rapidly after it was dug out of the ground.

The existence of what may once have been a quite impressive monument here is not a surprise since Breage was a minster-like church, with a chapelry at Germoe and possibly also Cury and Gunwalloe, although the latter two may have been added in the thirteenth century (Henderson, C. 1925, 63–4, 83, 100, 105; Orme 2010, 128). In 1086, the Bishop of Exeter's manor of Methleigh lay within the parish; Breage's chapelries were also on the royal manors of Winnianton and Binnerton (Henderson, C. 1953–6b, 170, 192). The church is said to have possessed its patron saint's shrine (Padel 2002, 354).

Tenth to eleventh century

Blight 1865, 73–4 and fig.; Polsue 1867, 136; Blight 1885, 114 and fig.; Langdon, Arthur and Allen, J. R. 1888, 318, 323–4; Langdon, Arthur 1889a, 319, 321n, 343; Langdon, Arthur 1890–1, 36, 53, 63, 73, 86; Langdon, Arthur 1896, 380–2, passim and figs.; Peter, T. 1899, 348; Langdon, Arthur 1906, 438; Sedding, E. 1909, 44; Hencken 1932, 272, 293; Dexter and Dexter 1938, 253–4 and figs.; Henderson, C. 1953–6a, 35; Pevsner 1970, 46; Pearce 1978, 178; Langdon, Andrew 1999, 10, no. 1, and fig.; Salter 1999, 17; Padel 2002, 354; Orme 2010, 128