The Tremeirchion Cross

Cadw's description

Location

Formerly at St Beuno's College, in the north courtyard (now in Chester pending relocation)

History

The Tremeirchion Cross was described by the poet Gruffydd ab Ieuan ap Llywelyn Fychan of Llanerch, who flourished c.1500. Before the Reformation it is thought to have been a cross to which people came on pilgrimage.

It was described by Pennant the late C18 as 'now demolished, but the carved capital [i.e. the rood] is now to be seen, in a building adjoining to the churchyard.' Glynne, visiting the church in the mid C19, refers to the surviving rood, on which he describes seeing the Holy Family, the Crucifixion and two apostles. A sundial shaft still standing in the churchyard, dated 1748, is reputed to be a portion of the shaft. In 1862 the parish authorities sold the rood, till then lying under a yew tree, for £5 with which to buy lamps. It was purchased as an important pre-Reformation antiquity by J Y Hinde of Rhyl who presented it to St Beuno's Roman Catholic College. (Another source says the purchaser was J Y W Lloyd.) In 1910 it was re-erected on a new shaft ovelooking the north courtyard of the college.

At the time of the relisting survey the cross had been recently removed for safety from its position adjacent to a building threatening collapse. The mediaeval head of the cross was in Chester undergoing conservation, the C19 shaft upon which it stood at St Beuno's having been discarded. It was planned to return the head of the cross to the parish church, to a location to be decided.

Exterior

The surviving rood of the Tremeirchion parish cross, in Gwespyr sandstone, which recently stood on a plain modern shaft support with stepped base. On all four sides of the rood are ogee headed niches, with finials and pinncles. The front represents the Crucifixion with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John. The back shows the Virgin seated, with the Christ Child seated in her left arm. Her right arm is raised. The short sides show ecclesiastics in pontificals.