The Corpus: St Erth 2

Volume 11: Cornwall

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Current Display: St Erth 2, Cornwall

Overview

Object type: Cross-head

Measurements: H. 61 cm (24 in); W. 68.5 cm (27 in) (max.); D. 18 cm (7 in)

Stone type: Coarse-grained granite. Feldspars, which form about 60% of the rock, are up to 7 x 2 cm; equidimensional quartz crystals are up to 1 cm. There are a few flakes of dark mica, together with some tourmaline intergrowth. Land's End Granite

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 73-4, 79-80

Corpus volume reference: Vol 11 p. 144

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Present Location

Fastened to wall in churchyard of St Erth's church, south of church

Evidence for Discovery

First certainly recorded in present location in 1856 (Blight 1856, 24 and fig.); probably this is cross recorded in 1838 'In the church-yard' (Penaluna 1838, i, 162). At some time between 1896 and 1953 cross was taken down, rotated and reinserted in same place but facing the other way (Henderson, M. unpub. 1985, p. 374, entry no. 190, and photographic record, note dated 28 September 1953).

Church Dedication

St Erth

Present Condition

Monument broken but stable; ornament worn, some lichen; situation fair

Description

Head and a very short section of the top of the rectangular shaft. The cross-head has arms of type E8, with wide arm-pits and slightly curved ends. The arms are linked by a slightly recessed ring, type a. There are faint traces only of an incised edge-moulding around the edge of the cross-head.

A (broad): On the cross-head is a truncated figure of Christ. Christ is without a halo and has an unusually thick neck which curves outwards to the arms. The horizontal arms reach right to the edge of the cross-head; a slight broadening of the arms at the ends probably represents the sleeves of a tunic. A very slight depression at the waist may represent the top of a loin-cloth or a belt. There are no legs and the figure does not appear to have extended onto the shaft (unless the shaft has been mutilated at this point).

B and D (narrow): No trace of any ornament

C (broad): On the cross-head are five bosses, slightly irregularly placed, with one in the centre and the other four not central within their respective cross-arms but more in line with the holes between cross and ring.

Discussion

This cross-head belongs to the Penwith group of pre-Norman sculpture characterised by a Crucifixion on one side of the head and five bosses on the other (Chapter IX, p. 88), but its very worn condition makes close comparison difficult. In so far as it is possible to tell, the figure appears more crudely carved and less well proportioned than Gwinear 1, St Buryan 1 and St Erth 1 (Ills. 92, 29, 66–7) and may therefore be a slightly later copy of these.

Date

Late tenth or early eleventh century

References

Penaluna 1838, i, 162 [1]; (—) 1851, 152 [2]; Blight 1856, vi, 24 and fig.; Polsue 1867, 362; Langdon, Arthur and Allen, J. R. 1888, 318, 323–4; Langdon, Arthur 1890–1, 75, 81, 84–5 and figs.; Langdon, Arthur 1896, 191–2, passim and figs.; Langdon, Arthur 1906, 432; Hencken 1932, 269; Henderson, C. 1935, 98; Dexter and Dexter 1938, 157n, 181–2, 198, 252, 281 and figs.; Thomas, I. ?1950, 54 [3]; Pevsner 1970, 172; Rowe, L. 1973, fig.; Appleby 1975, 113; Pearce 1978, 178; Langdon, Andrew 1999, 29, no. 36, and figs.; Salter 1999, 83; Thomas, A. C. 2007, 124; Henderson, M. unpub. 1985, p. 374, entry 190, and figs.

Endnotes

[1] This reference is probably to St Erth 2.

[2] This reference is probably to St Erth 2.

[3] It is not certain whether this reference is to St Erth 1 or St Erth 2.