Two interesting Herefordshire examples, brought to light a few years
ago, have been reinstalled under the auspices of the Society for
the Protection of Ancient Buildings (as recorded in the Committee's
Report, dated June 1916). These two crosses, which are at Madley
(Figs. 101, 102) and Tyberton (Figs. 100, 103), respectively, bear a
striking resemblance to one another. The heads of both are gabled,
with a crucifixion on the obverse, and on the reverse a Virgin,
crowned and throned, with her Child standing, fully draped, on her
knee. The Tyberton cross-head is by far the more perfect of the two.
It had been misused as a finial, or hip-knob, at the end of the brick
church. The head of the Madley cross is so badly defaced that the
figure of the Madonna is all but obliterated. This cross-head was
found among the effects of a private gentleman, Mr Robert Clarke, of
Hereford, after whose death it was "restored to the very complete
base and shaft, which stand in the churchyard." The shafts of both
crosses (monoliths, evidently from the same quarry) stand complete.
They are of octagonal section, with long pointed stops on the four
alternate sides, so that the foot of the shaft is square on plan. The
chamfer-stops of the two crosses differ slightly. Both shafts had
a similar moulded knop at their junction with the head. The Madley
cross-head is executed in a coarse, soft sandstone, which has suffered
much from disintegration. But the Tyberton head owes its better
preservation not a little to the fact that it is executed in stone of
more durable quality. Both these crosses seem to be of approximately
the same date, viz., the late-fourteenth or early-fifteenth century.
In the courtyard of the castle, St Michael's Mount, Cornwall, is a
fifteenth-century cross (Figs. 104 and 105). The head is an oblong
square on plan, measuring 1 ft. 4 in. by 1 ft., by about 3 ft. 3 in.
high to the top of the pinnacles at the angles. On one side is a
seated Madonna and Child; on the other a crucifix between Mary and
John. At one end is a male figure wearing a cap and civilian gown; at
the other a crowned figure holding what appears to be a sword. The
knop is octagonal and moulded, with Gothic square pateras round the
neck, just above the junction with the octagonal shaft.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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