EARLY CHRISTIAN MONUMENTS 



The only vestige of carving now remaining is a small loop near the top of the hole, which 

 might perhaps be a bit of the dragon's tail. 



Cury. This tympanum (Plate XIX, fig. 7) is over the south doorway of Cury church. 

 The greenish-coloured stone of which it is made does not appear to have been procurable in 

 large blocks, and it is made up of four separate stones, the peculiar jointing of which is shown 

 on the drawing. It is 4 feet long, and i foot io inches high. It has a border of chevron 

 moulding within which is a design of five interlacing rings, 1 having a portion of one passing 

 over and under the ring at each end, and terminated at the top on the right side by a rosette, 

 and on the left by a drooping leaf, while in each of the lower corners is a rosette. 



Mylar. Like Egloskerry, the church at Mylor possesses two tympana, but in addition 

 retains both its doorways, 2 one (No. i) forming the northern, and the other (No. 2) the 

 western entrance to the building ; the former being the larger and finer of the two, while the 

 latter appears to have suffered somewhat by restoration, and a good deal of it is new. 



No. i, Plate XIX, fig. 8, measures 4 feet 9 inches wide, and 2 feet 4^ inches high, and is 

 carved with a plain cross, in low relief, in a circle ; it has widely expanded limbs and a pronounced 

 inclination to the right. The little quadrants at the intersection of the limbs occur on both 

 the Mylor tympana, and are also found on four of the Cornish crosses, 3 viz., St. Agnes, 

 St. Kew, Roche, and Lesnewth. 



A line of chevrons with three little bosses in the interior angles runs nearly across the 

 bottom of the stone, and is a continuation of the same moulding on the jambs. 



No. 2 is 3 feet 9^ inches wide, and i foot lof inches high. The subject is a cross of an 

 elaborate nature, Plate XIX, fig. 9. The bead running along the springing line is a con- 

 tinuation of that on the jambs below, which is thus carried completely round the opening. 



Rome. This tympanum is now built into the west wall of the south aisle of the church. 

 It was found in this aisle in 1884, and having been used as a building stone is somewhat 

 mutilated. It is made of a similar kind of stone to that at Cury, and measures only 2 feet 

 9^ inches long, by I foot \\ inches high. 



The ornament upon it is contained in three circles, a large one in the centre, and a much 

 smaller one on either side ; the bottom of the circles being on a level. In the largest circle 

 is a kind of double cross, Plate XIX, fig. 10. The smaller circle on the right contains a cross 

 like that on tympanum No. I at Mylor, while that on the left is occupied by what seems to 

 have been a six-pointed star, the missing portions of which are suggested by the dotted lines. 

 A star of this kind is found on most of the sides of a particular type of font, of which there 

 are nine examples in Cornwall, namely, Altarnun, Callington, Jacobstow, Landrake, Laneast, 4 

 Lawhitton, Lezant, St. Thomas the Apostle,' and Warbstow." 



In conclusion it only remains to add that the illustrations of the tympana, like those of 

 the inscribed stones, the ornamented crosses, and coped stones, have been with four exceptions 

 prepared from the writer's own rubbings, photographed to scale so as to ensure accuracy. 



1 A band of plain interlaced rings similar to these extends across the bottom of a tympanum at 

 Beckford, Glouc. See J. R. Allen, Early Christian Symbolism, 261. An ornate fragment of Norman 

 sculpture with interlaced rings, preserved in the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey, is engraved by 

 Parker in his A.B.C. of Gothic Architecture, 3rd ed. 1882, 79. 



1 Excellent photo illustrations will be found in the Journ. Royal Inst. Cornwall, xiv (1901), 394. 



3 Langdon, Old Cornish Crosses, 76 to 79, and 165. 



4 Illustrated in Arch. Camb., Ser. 5, vol. xiii, 159. ' 'Ibid. 347. 'Ibid. 160. 



449 57 



