Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/327

 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 281 class should be gradually lost by decay or removal to positions where they are deprived of the essential interest which they possessed through the local associations connected with them. Thus tlie citizens of Bristol have allowed their beautiful cross to be removed ; it is now preserved in a position possibly of greater security,' at Stourhead, but at the sacrifice of the iutereat and value of such a monument in its original position. The ' Carfax Conduit ' likewise has been sacrificed to become an ornament of Newnham Park, near Oxford. The remarkable cross discovered at Lancaster has been transferred to a museum, where it has lost much of the value connected with its local history : ^ the two crosses once to be seen at Fletton in Huntingdonshire, have been displaced, and are in a position of questionable security : there is, actually, in the vicinity of London, a cross which has been removed more than a hundred miles from its original locality, and although it may be appreciated through the good taste of its present possessor, its futui'e preservation may depend upon caprice, and its history and origin be forgotten. Some remains of early crosses have been only preserved from destruction by being built into the walls of churches, as in the case of an interesting sculpture at Old Stepney Church ; or too frequently they may be found in farm-buildings or applied to other unworthy uses. " Of the early monuments to which the name of crosses is frequently applied, some are not properly so designated, being merely stones of memorial of various periods. In some instances, the upper portion being lost, the original character of the monument remains doubtful, as regards the propriety of their admission into the series of ' Crosses.' Of this the so-called Bewcastle Cross, the erect monuments at Coppleston, Devon, and Rothley, Leicestershire, are examples. Amongst the earliest crosses of an enriched character, several claim especial notice for the peculiar interlaced riband-like designs of their rude sculpture ; whilst those of a somewhat later period present intertwined stems and foliage mixed with birds, animals, or other objects. Some of the early examples have a circular head with a cross rudely cut upon it, as at Carraton Down, and several places in Cornwall ; ^ others of more elaborate workmanship have the head perforated, forming a cross, as at Carew, Pembrokeshire ; or a cross within a circle, as the ' Stone of Lamentation ' in Flintshire, and other examples, the shafts being ornamented with riband interlacement, and the cross, invariably, in these earlier examples is of the Greek form, with limbs of equal length.'' The crosses of the Norman and subsequent period are very numerous, and it is remarkable that amongst their richly sculptured ornaments, the characteristic types commonly found in eccle- siastical and other buildings, as also on baptismal fonts, such as the zig-zag or chevron, the billet mouldings, or the intersecting arches, do not appear to have been introduced. " The purposes for which crosses were erected were very various, and the classification of monuments of this description presents a subject of inte- resting investigation. They were placed in churchyards to inspire ^ See Arclueol. Journal, vol. iii. p. 72. figured in Gent. Mag. vol. Ixxv. part 2, '" See also the represeutations of crosses p. 1201. at St. Clement's near Truro, and St. '' Arclia3ol. .Journal, vol. iii. p. 71. Buryan, in Mr. Haslam's Memoir on Fenton's Hist, of roinbrokeshirc, pi. li, Cornisli Crosses, ArcliKol. Journal, vol. p. 240. Gougli's edition of Camden, iv. pp. 309, 310 ; also several e.xamplcs Flintshire, vol. iii. pi. .i.