At St Ives the cross-head was unearthed in the churchyard in 1832,
and re-erected on a new base in 1852. The height of the cross, as
now standing, is 10 ft. 6 in. The reverse of the sculptured head
portrays the Madonna and Child, with a kneeling figure, most likely
meant for the donor. The obverse is remarkable because the Crucifixion
is introduced not, so to speak, _per se_, but rather incidentally,
as constituting part of the Holy Trinity group. The crucified Son,
then, is placed between the knees of the Eternal Father, Whose
hands upraised on either side, the right in benediction, may be
observed above the arms of the crucifix. All and any representations
of this nature, depicting the Trinity, were peculiarly obnoxious
to the reformers, and are yet commonly objected to as being
"anthropomorphic." Similar representations of the Trinity occur on one
side of the cross-head, with the Crucifixion on the other side, at
Cogenhoe, in Northamptonshire, and Pocklington, in the East Riding of
Yorkshire (Figs. 114, 115). There is also a Trinity in the head of the
cross at Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire.
The same subject again is sculptured in the head of another Cornish
cross, that in Mawgan-in-Pyder churchyard (Figs. 106, 107). It is
made of Catacluse stone, and is a late-Gothic example, with very rich
tabernacle-work in the head. In fact, it was singled out by the late
J. T. Blight as "the most elaborate specimen of the kind in Cornwall."
On the opposite side to the Trinity is a subject of uncertain
identity, most likely the Annunciation. A single figure, vested in
pontificals, occupies either end of the head. The shaft is hexagonal,
with diamond-pointed stops, now much overgrown and practically hidden
from view. It stands 5 ft. 2 in. high.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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