At Ampney Crucis, Gloucestershire (Figs. 97, 98, 99), the churchyard
cross was overthrown at some unknown period. In January 1854 the
head of it was discovered, built up amid a heap of rubbish in the
cavity of the rood-staircase. Taken thence, it was reinstated in
its proper place in the churchyard about 1860. There are two stone
steps, which measure respectively 7 ft. 6 in. and 5 ft. square, and an
octagonal socket. The shaft is square on plan, changing, by means of
stops, into an octagon. The stops, however, instead of terminating in
diamond-points, or otherwise dying away into the chamfer, are crowned
with engaged pinnacles, extending some way up the canted sides, a
most unusual and charming device. It is a misfortune that the effect
of this fine cross is spoilt by the faulty, modern treatment of the
upper portion of the stem, which, being made too short, is obliged to
contract much too abruptly to the junction with the head. Instead of
tapering truly, with a series of straight lines converging gradually
upward, the shaft is pared away in a concave outline, which results
in very serious disfigurement. The total height is only about 10 ft.
The head is in excellent preservation, and, though not elaborate, an
exceedingly beautiful specimen. It is an oblong square on plan, and
thus has two wide sides (occupied respectively by the Blessed Virgin
and Child, and by the Crucifixion between Mary and John) and two
narrow ends (one occupied by an unidentified ecclesiastic, the other
by an unidentified warrior). The canopies are severely plain, being no
more than cusped trefoils; while the top is coped in the shape of a
gabled roof. The work is of the latter part of the fourteenth century.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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