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FROM YOUR OWN CORRESPONDENTS

AN UPDATE FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY’S AREA REPRESENTATIVES

Any opinions or errors in these articles are those of the authors and must not be assumed to be those of Cornwall Archaeological Society.

FEBRUARY 2019

Issue 27 This month:

 PRIDEAUX POT  HIGH NOON AT HIGH CROSS  PENWITH CROSS RESTORED  HENGE REVEALED  LOST AND FOUND ON MOOR  MAJOR SUCCESS FOR ST COLUMB MILESTONES  LINKINHORNE MILESTONE  INTERESTING WEBSITES PRIDEAUX POT

Recent scrub-bashing and tree surgery at Prideaux hillfort resulted in large quantities of wood needing to be disposed of, mostly for firewood. Eager volunteer Susan Boggis arranged for this lovely object (about 6 inches high) to be made out of a piece of wood.

But can you identify the wood?

The answer is at the end of this month’s update.

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HIGH NOON AT HIGH CROSS

Wednesday 20th February 2019 was not a good day to be in ’s city centre. Sheila James arrived in High Cross, just outside the cathedral, shortly after a car went out of control. Fortunately, perhaps miraculously, there was no loss of life, although injuries were suffered. But Sheila’s photos show that the medieval cross was smashed into pieces.

Photo: Sheila James

Her next picture shows the head and upper portion of the shaft of this once lovely, and much loved monument:

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Ann Preston-Jones takes up the story: ‘Senior archaeologist Ann Reynolds was soon on the spot and spent the next couple of hours at the site, taking photos, liaising with emergency services, and getting the Truro City parks department to remove the pieces of the cross to safety with just the stump of the shaft, 10cm high, sticking out of the ground as evidence of the incident. ‘

Photo: Ann Reynolds

This photo shows what a wonderful feature the cross was until recently:

Photo: Ann Preston-Jones 4

In his book Stone Crosses in West Cornwall (Federation of Old Cornwall Societies, 1999) Andrew Langdon summarises the complex history of this cross. First mentioned in 1295, it gave its name to this corner of Truro. Possibly bulls were tied to its base-stone prior to being baited. The cross seems to have disappeared at some point but sections were found in the 1950s when workmen were digging trenches. The upper portion was re-erected in 1981 but was treated badly by passers-by, so Truro City Councillor John Christie arranged for it to be ‘lengthened and converted into a proper “High Cross”.’ The work was carried by craftsmen from St Breward and the new cross was placed in its current position in 1988. The current cross is a composite, with a relatively modern lower shaft. Andrew thinks the original would have been rather different: ‘the original High Cross…was more likely to have been a Gothic monument, a Latin cross on a stepped base, whereas this cross has all the hallmarks of a wayside cross.’

Composite or not, a cross has been a feature in this location, on and off, since the late 13th century. Hopefully, it will be restored and will once more grace this part of the city.

PENWITH CROSS RESTORED With the increase in road traffic our roadside heritage is vulnerable, as the accident at High Cross showed. Andrew Langdon tells the story of the restoration of a Penwith cross that was hit by a vehicle in 2017 and this story has a happy ending.

The cross restored and the base-stone revealed. Note the random drill-holes in the base-stone.

Photo: Andrew Langdon 5

In August 2017, the Boskenna Gate Cross was damaged by a vehicle and had its wheel-head knocked off by a vehicle. The monument stands just a few feet from the edge of a narrow section of the B3315 to Sennen road at SW 4202 2407.

The cross is HER no 28183, Listed Grade II no 69601 and scheduled ancient monument no 24295.

The wheel-headed cross displays a Latin cross in relief on the head with the lower arm running down the length of the shaft on each face. Arthur Langdon’s illustration of 1896 shows the monument had already been fractured at this time. He also shows the monument supported by a large base-stone, which was uncovered during its restoration.

On Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th February 2019, Lawrence Kelland of Kelland Conservation, based in Somerset, drilled out the iron dowel in the top of the cross-shaft and drilled deeper holes in both the shaft and cross-head to take two stainless steel dowels, each 12mm diameter. Edward and William Bolitho of assisted by Philip Semmens provided a mini digger to assist lifting the cross-head into place. Cormac provided traffic lights so that we could work safely. The work was organised by Ann Preston-Jones.

Lawrence Kelland removes the iron pin.

Photo: Andrew Langdon

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The cross-head being re-fixed.

Photo: Andrew Langdon

Lawrence Kelland applying lime mortar.

Photo: Andrew Langdon

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When cleared of vegetation the base-stone was found to have a number of drill holes randomly drilled in the stone. The cross-head when examined was found to have a cement– filled hole in the centre and a further cement-filled hole part way down the shaft on the west side, suggesting that at one time the cross may have been used as a gatepost. Report by Andrew Langdon

HENGE REVEALED

The scrub-clearing programme organised by Cornwall Archaeological Unit has continued at Castilly Henge in Luxulyan parish (SX 0311 6274) with very pleasing results.

Photo: Ann Preston-Jones

Two volunteer work parties took place in February, supervised by Anna Lawson-Jones of CAU, and Ann Preston-Jones of Historic . The internal ditches were cleared of a dense mass of brambles and other vegetation, revealing much more of this intriguing monument, which is generally supposed to be a Neolithic henge. There is reason to believe it may have also served as a medieval plen-an-gwarry, or playing place, as well as being used as a temporary encampment during the English Civil War.

Castilly is situated where major north-south and east-west routeways met and still meet. One of the two roundabouts at Innis Downs may be glimpsed in the background of this photo. Possibly the monument lay next to a north-south routeway connecting the at Nanstallon with the tidal head of the Luxulyan River estuary at Ponts Mill, as well as the routeway following the spine or watershed of the county.

Photo: Ann Preston-Jones 8

You can read Charles Thomas’s report of the1962 CAS excavations at Castilly in Cornish Archaeology 3 (https://cornisharchaeology.org.uk/volume-3-1964/ ). Although Castilly is in Luxulyan parish it is very close to Lanivet and the geographical centre of Cornwall. Graeme Kirkham has looked closely at the area, which is rich in crosses and inscribed stones, as well as other features, and discusses its possible significance in Cornish Archaeology 55. He notes that: Lanivet’s place-name and its location, by tradition at the centre of Cornwall, raise the possibility that it may represent a significant place at the centre of a former tribal ‘territory’ coincident with the historic county of Cornwall. The place-name may relate to the prehistoric henge monument nearby at Castilly and there are intriguing parallels with a similar coincidence of place-names and a henge monument in central Devon (Kirkham, G, 2016. Inscribed and decorated stones at Lanivet: exploring the context, Cornish Archaeology 55, 185-201).

LOST AND FOUND ON BODMIN MOOR David and Linda Edyvean regularly visit Bodmin Moor as part of their Area Rep duties and recently came across these fine flint tools. The location of the find will be noted on the Historic Environment Record. All such information accumulates to give a better understanding of our historic environment.

Photo: David Edyvean

An expert, who has only seen the photo of the finds, suggests that: The smaller one … could theoretically be any age from Late Mesolithic through to the Bronze Age. The larger thicker (modified/backed on its thick side) blade, with possible cutting use wear along the long thin edge suggests a Neolithic Knife (probably Late Neolithic).

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MAJOR SUCCESS FOR ST COLUMB MILESTONES Not only are our roadside crosses suffering from traffic collisions but so are our historic milestones. Happily though, this report, from Ian Thompson of the Milestone Society (https://www.milestonesociety.co.uk/ ), describes a success story.

Good News from

In September 2016, two stones close together in St Columb Major were reported to the Milestone Society as broken in half. The damage seemed to be the result of two separate vehicle collisions. The broken stones were reported to ’s contractors, Cormac, who agreed to undertake restoration. Phil Ellery of the St Columb Major Old Cornwall Society took on the task of politely reminding Cornwall Council every month that the stones were awaiting repair.

SW907624 Trekenning, St Columb Major broken in two, September 2016 Photo: Ian Thompson

SW904623 St Columb Major broken in two, September 2016 Photo: Ian Thompson

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The broken bits were collected from the roadside, but not much seemed to be happening. In September 2017, Ian Thompson visited the highways depot at St Columb Road where the two stones, one milestone and one guide stone, lay in pieces on a pallet. Understandably, milestones are low down the priority list of highway maintenance. They were safe, but still nothing was happening.

Phil continued his gentle reminders. Eventually, funding was found and repairs were done by De Lank Quarry at St Breward.

In September 2018, two years after they were damaged, the milestone and guide stone were restored to their original positions, looking good.

SW907624 Trekenning, St Columb Major restored

September 2018

Photo: Ian Thompson

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SW904623 St Columb Major restored September 2018

Photo: Ian Thompson

Report by Ian Thompson

LINKINHORNE MILESTONE Besides being an active participant in the recent scrub-bashing work, CAS member Susan Boggis has been inspired by Ian Thompson’s work on milestones and has been seeking them out in east Cornwall. Below are some of her photographs of the milestone at Halwinnick Butts in Linkinhorne parish (SX 3031 7409). Mercifully, this one, which is a Listed Building, has not been the victim of local traffic.

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Susan’s very detailed report has been submitted to the Historic Environment Record. She also discovered another milestone that is not on the record and has supplied the information needed for it to be added. It should be noted that the Historic Environment Record is a vital resource. If a feature is not recorded on it then as far as planners and developers are concerned it does not count. Even though Cornwall’s HER is already vast it is not comprehensive, so if you know of an unrecorded feature, large or small, ancient or relatively modern, that you think is of historic significance, please contact your local CAS Area Representative ([email protected]) or the HER:

Strategic Historic Environment Service Pydar House, Pydar Street, Truro, TR1 1XU Telephone: 0300 1234 202 [email protected]

INTERESTING WEBSITES Cornwall Archaeological Unit’s recent work in managing scrub-clearance at King Arthur’s Hall, Prideaux hillfort and Castilly Henge has been reported in this and earlier updates but this is only a tiny fraction of the work carried out by this team. Not only is this unit held in the highest regard nationally, it is the best-informed of any of the teams investigating Cornwall’s archaeology and the good news is that some of their reports can be found here: https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/organisationDetails.xhtml?organisatio nId=1000244 . It is highly recommended. The unit’s website is: https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/cornwall-archaeological-unit/ . 13

Recently, Cambridge University has launched a digital archive of aerial photos which is well worth browsing through: https://www.cambridgeairphotos.com/areas/cornwall/ .

Area Representatives would love to hear from fellow CAS members, and the general public, about any feature of the historic environment in their parishes, whether a new discovery, something causing concern, or even just to answer queries. If you have any concerns, or new information, about any archaeological feature, please contact the Area Representative for the parish. If you do not know who that is, just look at the inside back cover of the latest journal, Cornish Archaeology 55, or send an email to [email protected] .

Roger Smith, 6th March 2019

Answer to the wood puzzle: The Prideaux pot is made from gorse wood.