139 



THE QUETHIOCK CROSS. 

 By N. hare, Corresponding Memier. 



A few months since, whilst some workmen were engaged in 

 excavating ground, preparatory to building a new boundary 

 wall, at the southern part of Quethiock Churchj^ard, they came 

 unexpectedly upon the head and base of a handsome granite 

 cross. The two pieces were discovered just inside the old fence, 

 and at some depth beneath the surface. 



On making further search, the Eev. William Willimott, the 

 Vicar, was fortunate enough to find the missing Shaft. The 

 monolith had been divided into two parts, by hammering and 

 then breaking it, and was doing duty as gate-posts, to what was 

 then an unused entrance to the churchyard. This gateway is now 

 built up. On putting the four pieces together, it was found that 

 they fitted exactly into each other, and formed a perfect four- 

 holed Greek cross. 



After having been firmly cemented together, the restored cross, 

 on the 25th July last, was re-erected south of the church porch, 

 and on the spot where it was found, and is supposed originally 

 to have stood. 



The Cross, as shewn in the . accompanying sketch, is a very 

 good one, and as regards height is the finest in the county, being 

 fourteen feet high ; its base is nearly circular, and is four feet 

 six inches in diameter ; the head pierced with four trefoils, is 

 some two feet less ; the shaft is beaded the entire length, at each 

 of its four corners, and is ten to eleven feet long. At the bottom 

 it is twenty-two inches wide, and twelve inches deep. It is orna- 

 mented in front and at the back with trellis-work ; the fracture 

 occurs just where the pattern is varied, that is, the braiding 

 of the lower half is broader than in the ujDper. The two sides 

 or ends have a tracery of scroll work. The cross has a tenon 

 fitting into a mortise in the top of the shaft, and the bottom of 

 the shaft one which fits into the base, so that no part of the 

 cross is wanting. 



