ORNAMENT ON THE EARLY CROSSES OF CORNWALL. 41 



Mr. Iago further points out that the name " Urochani " is 

 found on the inscribed stone at Welltown, Cardynham. 



At the top of the shaft is a panel of Stafford knotwork with 

 serpentine band as before described, but too much worn to say 

 how it is finished. This is the only case where this pattern 

 occurs in Cornwall on the front of a cross ; in the other examples 

 it exists only on the sides. 



Having now given some account of the Celtic ornament 

 found in Cornwall, it would be well here to devote a short time 

 to the general consideration of this interesting style of decora- 

 tion, not only with regard to what is known of its development, 

 but also in connection with the art as occurring in other parts of 

 Great Britain and Ireland. In the latter country, it is gener- 

 ally acknowledged, the best examples exist- 



The origin of Celtic ornament is a question about which 

 much diversity of opinion exists amongst competent authorities, 

 and therefore no attempt is here made to trace it. Its application 

 to the decoration of stones is doubtless derived from the MSS., 1 

 as their dates are earlier than any of the stones whose ages have 

 been ascertained by means of their inscriptions. 



The absence of purely Celtic monuments in every part of 

 England except Devon and Cornwall, is to be accounted for by 

 the Saxon conquests, by which the Celts were driven northwards 

 and westwards. Where Celtic influence can be traced in the 

 art of the pre-Norman sculptured stones in England, it is due 

 to the intercourse existing with Ireland at the time when the 

 Scotic Monks settled at Lindisfarne. 



I cannot better approach the subject of Celtic ornament than 

 by quoting some of those authors who have spent so much time 

 and labour in the investigations connected with this question. 



Mr. J. Eomilly Allen, E.S.A. (Scot.) in his paper on " The 

 Analysis of Celtic interlaced ornament," 2 says "a great deal of 

 ingenuity has been wasted by various authors in speculating as 



1 Early Christian Art in Ireland. Miss Stokes, p. 198. 



2 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 12th Feb., 1883, pp 

 225 and 226. 



