Volume 11: Cornwall

Select a site alphabetically from the choices shown in the box below. Alternatively, browse sculptural examples using the Forward/Back buttons.

Chapters for this volume, along with copies of original in-text images, are available here.

Current Display: Phillack 3, Cornwall Forward button Back button
Overview
Present Location
On floor inside St Phillack's church, at east end of north aisle, against north wall (SW 5653 3843)
Evidence for Discovery
First recorded in 1872 in 'the walls forming the lych gate' (Polsue 1872, 69). Removed in 1973 and placed inside church (Thomas, A. C. 1990, 24–5)
Church Dedication
St Phillack
Present Condition
Monument broken but stable; ornament badly worn; situation very good
Description

A roughly rectangular slab with a Crucifixion incised on it. The slab is bordered by two parallel incised lines, though these are now only really clear on the right-hand side. The border is indistinct on the left-hand side, partly extant on the top and non-existent on the bottom, presumably because the lower edge of the slab has been trimmed off. Incised within this is a figure of Christ, with thin arms out-stretched horizontally. No facial features are apparent. Lines near the ends of the arms, a faint line at the neck (?), and the length of the garment suggest that the figure is wearing a tunic. The feet are not visible, presumably having been cut off, although there is perhaps a slight indication of the beginning of the left foot turning out. In the roughly square area to either side of the head is a simple incised cross with an incised single dot in the centre of each quadrant. This is less clear on the left-hand side.

Discussion

This slab is considered by Thomas to display a mixture of Welsh and Irish influences and probably to be of seventh- to ninth-century date, although he does not preclude a tenth- to eleventh-century dating (Thomas, A. C. 1961, 88–92; id. 1978, 77; id. 1990, 11–15). He very reasonably suggests that the slab may have been an altar frontal. However, the use of incised work and the use of dots compare with the Penzance 1 cross for which an eleventh- to twelfth-century date has been proposed (p. 186, Ills. 185–8). Moreover the great similarity in proportion, size and shape of garment between this figure and that on the churchyard cross (Phillack 1, Ill. 197) suggests that they are closely related, if not by the same hand. The suggested date is therefore broadly in line with that proposed for the Phillack 1 cross, as well as for incised monuments like Penzance 1.

Date
Eleventh to twelfth century?
References
Polsue 1872, 69; Thomas, A. C. 1961, 89–92 and figs.; Thomas, A. C. 1971a, 185–6 and fig.; Rowe, L. 1973; Pascoe 1976, 97; Thomas, A. C. 1978, 77–9, pl. 4.1; Todd 1987, 299; Lang 1990, 140; Thomas, A. C. 1990, 11–15, 24–5 and figs.; Langdon, Andrew 1999, 68
Endnotes

Forward button Back button
mouseover