Sunday, February 04, 2007

Carew Cross

This weekend just gone was glorious weather-wise. The greyness just melted away and was replaced by a beautiful blue sky and golden sun that had been hiding from us in the UK for an age. Of course, I grabbed my camera and headed out to explore. This time I headed west to Pembrokeshire in South Wales and visited Pembroke Castle, which I will post about very soon. However, on the way home I stopped to stretch my legs in a little place called Carew where I saw this wonderful ancient cross.

There was a plaque on a nearby wall which told me that it was a combined wheel-head and neck cross that was fastened by a tenon on a tall splayed shaft adn that it was apparently the largest and best preserved of the composite crosses. There is an inscription on the front near the base which translates as: 'King Margiteut, son of Etguin Maredudd Ap Edwin' who was joint ruler of the Kingdom of Deheubarth (i.e. South-West Wales) from 1033 until his death in 1035. It is thought that the cross commemorates a gift of land made by him to the church. Isn't it amazing that a chance stop bought me to such an amazing find?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wonderfull.

I'm glad you finally found some sun Bobkat.

I am looking forward to your castel pictures :)

OldLady Of The Hills said...

FABU:OUS, B-K...Just fabulous!
How lovely that you had such a pretty day today...Those grey days can get depressing, can't they? This Cross is truly Beautiful!

kenju said...

Is that cross really from 1035? AMAZING! I love the carvings.

Unknown said...

The Cross is beautiful ;)

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Preeti Shenoy said...

Really good.History always excites me and fills me with wonder.So do hitorical monuments or relics.

Katherine said...

Amazing that it is still there and in such good condition!

Unknown said...

Cool cross!

Ran over by a bus?? How did that happen?

carmilevy said...

It's such a privilege to come face-to-face with history. It's especially cool when it's unexpected. Thanks for sharing the words and the image. Now I feel as if we saw it alongside you!

Melody said...

That's one bloody old cross hey? I love all that UK history... Simply amazing.