Pre-Norman Stone Crosses in the British Isles

Running north from Llangollen to the Horseshoe Pass, Valle Crucis, the Vale of the Cross (or, to complete the set of names, Glyn y Groes), is host to the remains of a thirteenth-century Cistercian Abbey. The valley, quite narrow in places, takes its name from the cross which used to stand slightly to the north of the Abbey, whose shaft-stump is all that remains, being known as Eliseg's Pillar.

Eliseg's Pillar seen in the distance beyond the plaque which describes it
October 2000

Originally, the cross was much taller - six metres according to some (extravagant) estimates - but all that remains now is about a third of that, surmounting a mound in a field beside the road. The cross takes its name from an inscription which used to be clearly visible on the shaft, but which can no longer be seen. That inscription told how Cyngen, the last king of Powys, erected the cross during the early ninth century to commemorate his great-grandfather king Eliseg, who had won Powys from the English by force of arms. Fortunately, that inscription was transcribed before it became too weathered. The inscription which now appears on the cross - see below right - is from an altogether more recent period, and tells how the Pillar was re-erected in the eighteenth century after being discovered in a sorry state lying in the field.

The overall style of the Pillar has affinities with Mercian Crosses, such as the one at Leek, although it is on a much more massive scale than that one. It would be very handy indeed if the original inscription were accurate (as opposed to the sort of propaganda that certain Egyptian pharaohs went in for, carving their name on monuments whether they caused them to be made or not) because then it would give strong dating evidence for this monument and others like it.

Valle Crucis Abbey was the second richest in all of Wales, behind only Tintern Abbey. Even after centuries of disuse it is still clearly a magnificent edifice, and it is not surprising that a number of Welsh noblemen are buried here; the leading one of them is probably Madoc, great grandson of Madoc Ap Gruffydd, who founded the Abbey, and great-grandfather of Owain Glyndýr, the Prince of Wales who stood up to the English. Castell Dinas Bran, shown on the map below is an Iron-Age hill-fort.

Inscriptions
Nevern/Nanhyfer (The inscription has been picked out in yellow for clarity.)	Latin	Eliseg's Pillar/Piler Eliseg, Escomb, Llanddewi-Brefi, Nevern/Nanhyfer
	Ogham	Nevern/Nanhyfer
	Old English	Great Edstone, Kirkdale, Wensley
	Runes	Bewcastle, Old Byland, Urswick
	Welsh	Tywyn
Inscriptions come in several recognisable forms. They may be in different languages, including Latin and Old English, and they may use different scripts, including Ogham, runes, and the alphabet which evolved into the one in current use (though Old English has extra letters compared with today). In some cases, the same inscription is given in more than one form, and such monuments are particularly useful, as they can provide information about the decipherment of such scripts, much like the Rosetta Stone did for Egyptian hieroglyphics. The inscriptions can tell various things: sometimes they give the name of the person commemorated by the monument, sometimes its maker. Occasionally, they convey information about historical circumstances; these are often the most valuable inscriptions, because they allow definite dates to be assigned to the objects. In the case of those inscriptions which appear simply to be a name, some discretion has been applied in categorising them; generally, they are classified according to the language that uses a similar script.

* The Ordnance Survey National Grid Reference (and corresponding Latitude/Longitude) given at the top of the pages describing individual sites usually refer to the location of the closest or most prominent entrance to the site where the monument is to be found - e.g. a gate into a churchyard. For monuments located in open country, or at a significant distance from the site entrance as just defined, the co-ordinates usually refer to the exact location of the monument.
Please allow for a small error in the co-ordinates of up to a couple of dozen metres.

Thanks to the people at streetmap.co.uk, if you click on the Grid References in the magenta boxes on the site pages,
you'll see an extract from the relevant Ordnance Survey 1:50000 Landranger map!

As the official mapping agency of the United Kingdom Government, the Ordnance Survey produces the definitive maps of the country. They contain a wealth of information.
For more details, visit www,ordnancesurvey.co.uk/leisure

Click here if you need an explanation of the terminology on these pages

Click here if you would like to see a bibliography

Click here if you would like to download the freeware "Mordred" font (in True-type for Windows)
so that the headings used on these pages will then look like the following:

Click to go to Pre-Norman crosses in:	England	the island of Ireland	the Isle of Man	Scotland	Wales	Read about the Saints
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Locality maps at this web-site have been developed using Microsoft AutoRoute Express 2000 (and later editions).

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