People Features

Ever since he was a school boy, local historian Andrew Langdon has been fascinated by the ancient stone crosses.

"I had to speak on a subject at school for a few minutes one day," remembers Andrew.

The restored Boskenna Cross in west Cornwall

"I lived in Wadebridge and with there being several stone crosses in the area, I decided to give a talk on them. When I looked closer I found there were many more in Wadebridge."

Since his interest started at an early age, Andrew has helped to discover countless stone crosses in Cornwall. Many may have gone undetected if it wasn't for his enthusiasm.

BBC Cornwall's Matt Shepherd caught up with Andrew to learn more about his fascination and his discoveries of Cornish Stone Crosses:

"Almost every year we will find new crosses," says Andrew. "Cornwall has got many crosses out in the countryside whereas most places don't. We've got hundreds of crosses marking routes between parishes. Elsewhere in the UK they are predominantly in churchyards or market squares."

Andrew's passion for stone crosses, led to him putting his expertise down on paper. He's written several books explaining where you can find stone crosses in the different parts of Cornwall.

"I would say 90% of all crosses are carved from moorland granite, so there are plenty in the west Penwith area and Bodmin Moor," says Andrew.

Andrew working at St Clether

Stone crosses were initially used for to mark a Christian burial ground, sometimes prior to a church being built.

"In some cases these crosses stretch back to the 10th century," explains Andrew. "West Penwith has the best collection of the earliest crosses. But Lanhydrock, Cardinham and Lanivet near Bodmin have good examples of early churchyard crosses."

Preserving for the future generations is an important part of Andrew's work.

The latest technology is being used to ensure the safety of the crosses.

A small microchip, similar to that used for microchipping a pet, has been developed recently.

Firstly as a deterrent to would-be thieves, and secondly as a means of retrieving those that have been stolen.

The procedure is simple; the chip is inserted into a groove, the details recorded and by the simple use of a detector/reader the stone can be identified.

Andrew has spent 30 years searching, and restoring Cornish Stone Crosses, and he has his favourites.

Andrew microchips a stone cross

"I'm very interested in the late medieval crosses," smiles Andrew. "These are four sided monuments and they have biblical images carved on the faces. On the principle face you could find an image of the Trinity, or the Virgin Mary, and on the side faces, images of Saints.

"Because of the images few survived the Reformation, so they are that bit more interesting to me personally."

Sometimes it's just a case of discovering a fragment of an ancient cross. But on many occasions Andrew and his team of enthusiasts have found crosses in excellent condition.

He may have spent three decades restoring these important parts of Cornish history, but Andrew knows there are many more to discover in the future...