The reason for the naming of venue as "THE WAYMARKER" is due to the 7ft9' granite stone a few yards on the Constantine side of the entrance way. The other dimensions of the cross are the thickness on average is 12inches with the head width being 2ft, the shaft width at the neck is 1ft5' and at the base it flares down to a width of 1ft6'. The front design is described by Langdon's Old Cornish Crosses of 1988 as having a head with an equal-limbed cross with a slight inclination to the right set within a circle. The front of the shaft is decorated with an oblong outline which is rectangular at the bottom with curved sides that intersect the bottom of the head's incised circle. Within this oblong there is an "x" shaped St. Andrews Cross; below which is a latin cross where its shaft passes through the lower line of the oblong outline. The rear of the cross is also decorated where the head has radiating lines which are not carried to the edge of the stone; the lowest two of which are connected by a curved line. The ends of this intersection there is two lines which drop down the shaft but terminate with unequal length.

The Waymarker aims to combine its tranquil surroundings with the abunda

THE WAYMARKER

 

"A Rural Retreat for a Sweet or Savoury Treat"

The Historical Background

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Henderson (1985) notes that an earlier author Langdon (1896) stated that a local man and his father re-erected the cross in 1865 at the roadside after it was found in a nearby field. Another author Henderson notes similar ornamentation at Carmenellis, Trenethick and Wendron Cemetery. Personally I notice similarities to the shorter cross placed ontop of the hedge outside Helland House (site of former priory) near Treverva. Baird (1950's) believes the location of the cross is because of the ford crossing where the routeway also divided the estates of Trewardreva and Retallack. Mary Henderson also belives the reason for placement was in reference to these ancient roadways. The line of the road follows the ridgeway from north to south which enters Rame from Wendron to Lestraines, then it climes hill to Treworvack and traverses site of Maen Rock and joins the existing road a little before the cross. Here it met another ancient road at Trewardreva cross which continued down Brill and over the downs across an old deer park and through Merthen Woods towards a quay at Merthen Hole. In his "Routes & Trackways for Historians" claims that in West Penwith it was common for granite crosses to be erected in medieval period to direct the rural parishioners to church. Nevertheless the purpose of the stone would have been as a WAYMARKER be it for religious purposes or as a general routemarker.