The Carew Cross, Pembrokeshire, Wales
The Carew Cross, or Carew High Cross, standing nearly 13 feet tall, is a remarkable and richly decorated early medieval composite cross which is thought to date from the 10th or 11th centuries.
A magnificent early medieval cross
Carew in Pembrokeshire is famous for two major architectural wonders: its magnificent Edwardian castle and its early medieval cross, the latter of which is the subject of this blog post.
Standing approximately 13 feet (approx. 4m) above ground, the Carew Cross is a composite cross, made in two parts and each of a different stone.
Each part of the cross rests on a slightly wider section (or butt) and then tapers as the cross rises from the ground. The whole structure is particularly significant for its blend of Viking, Celtic and Irish motifs.
Description of the Carew Cross: cross-head and upper section
The entire upper section of the cross is made from sandstone and features a wheel-headed or circular cross above a small, tapered column of stone. A mortise and tenon joint is used to connect this section of the cross to the main shaft below.
The cross-head itself is frost-damaged on the western side although one of the arms reveals that this whole face once contained knotwork. It may also have featured a figure of Christ in the centre, although this is speculation.
The eastern face of the cross-head is more simply incised with lines marking the centre of each cross arm, each surrounded by an outline. However, the lowest arm of the cross is encircled at its base, seemingly suggesting that it is in embedded in the ground.
The upper shaft features incisions on the eastern side showing a saltire formed of interlaced limbs within a frame; the western side features more intricate geometrical fretwork.
The butt also features incised knotted work on the western side; because of the position of the cross by the road, it was difficult to see the exact pattern of the eastern side..
Description of the Carew Cross: main shaft
The main shaft is cut from a hard, igneous rock thought to have come from the Preseli mountains. It is handsomely and richly decorated, creating a feeling of great wonder in the viewer, and a rich sense of cultural focus in the landscape. Notably, each of the two main sides is divided into three core sections (possibly indicative of the Trinity).
The western face (seen as you face the road with the castle behind you) features a series of three highly decorated incised panels, the upper and lower of which feature interlacing knotwork while the middle panel contains a complicated pattern in fretwork.
This side also includes two smaller panels, one of which contains an inscription while the other is blank (see below).
The eastern face (seen from the road) features three large panels again, the lowest two contain different forms of knotwork while the upper section is divided into three sections, two of which contain geometric designs while the lowest section hints at the complex knotwork of the larger panel below it. The narrower sides of the shaft are also decorated in knotwork.
Howard Williams thinks that the wholly abstract nature of the designs on the monument point to its position as a wayside cross. He also considers that it may have been intended to be seen by visitors leaving whatever building (or settlement) stood on the site of the current castle,
Certainly, the intricate decoration (which may once have been painted as is suggested by the Sandbach crosses in Cheshire) also points to a monumental assertion by a powerful person.
The mysterious inscription
Such a person may be the “Margitt” or “Meredudd” depicted in an intriguing inscription on the western face of the cross.
Sandwiched between the lowest and middle large decorative panels are two small rectangular panels side by side, one of which features an inscription bearing what is thought to read (on three separate lines) “MARGITT / EUTRE / CETT (or CITT) FX (or EY)”.
An old metal panel nearby suggests, with the silent authority of such things, that the text is “MARGIT / EUT RE/ X ETG FILIUS” which it translates as “King Margiteut, son of Etguin” and concludes that this refers to Maredudd ap Edwin, joint ruler of the kingdom of Deheubarth from 1033-1055.
However, more recent analysis suggests that the panel can be read as “Mariteut Recett f(in)x(it)”, which is translated as meaning “Maredudd the Generous made this cross”.
Intriguingly, the panel to the right of the inscription is empty, suggesting either that the cross was intended for a further inscription or that the current inscription was added later and both panels were intended to be blank.
If this latter case is correct, the cross may date from a much earlier period than previously thought; possibly to the tenth century or earlier.
If the former case is correct, the person for whom it was intended may have been slain in battle and his intentions never realised. Alternatively, his wife may have been the intended figure to be commemorated.
The notion of blank panels ready for inscription hints at the possibility of items commissioned for kings with celebratory or biographical intent “built in” as part of the commission.
Current location in the landscape
If the Carew Cross was intended as a statement piece, its current location – certainly from the eastern (or road) side is underwhelming and renders this magnificent edifice as secondary to the purpose of travel as the visitor does not face the inscriptions, unlike from the western side
The current location also makes the wonderful decoration difficult to “read” because the visitor has to look up to the cross from below.
Possibly, because the traveller is passing the cross rather than moving towards it, the cross may not have originally stood in this precise location.
It is possible that the cross may originally have been positioned to align it with the road leading towards the castle from the east. If this was the case, the cross would have been seen by everyone approaching or leaving the castle (or whatever building preceded it).
Similar crosses in Ireland, such as the "west cross" at Kilfenora, are sometimes seen within the landscape itself and stand alone as monuments of wonder to be seen from afar.
By contrast, the 10th/11th Century cross at St Brynach's church, Nevern (also in Pembrokeshire) appears to be more linked to a site of religious significance where the ornate incisions seem at once to the subject of an intimate immersion in a site and place.
Certainly, when viewed from the castle, the cross evokes such wonder. It is possible that the cross may originally have occupied the position of the current castle and was moved here when the castle was built, its excellence of form being seen by the castle’s owners as indicators of their own prestige and worthy of preservation.
Despite some of the damage to the cross caused by frost, we are to be comforted at least that it has not been thought necessary to encase it in a glass box in the manner of Sueno’s Stone in Scotland.
While such preservation is key, especially in the case of sandstone monuments in hostile environments, something is lost when more modern solutions render the visitor experience more akin to seeing a museum exhibit.
Instead, at Carew, we still gain a sense of the original cross and the feelings it evokes. It has a powerful presence in its landscape, even if it probably was originally erected somewhere else nearby.
Alas, whether or not this is the case can now never be known.
Further information about the Carew Cross
About the author, Michael Smith
I am a British translator and illustrator of medieval literature. I am also an accomplished printmaker, with work in private collections worldwide.
My books, including a translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Alliterative Morte Arthure, are available through all the usual outlets. My translation of The Romance of William and the Werewolf was published in 2024. All my books feature my own linocut prints as their illustrations.
To find out more about me, please click here
For more details of my books and how to purchase signed copies, click here.
Selected images of the Carew Cross and related crosses
The images below include more detailed photographs of the Carew Cross.
Eroded face of the Carew Cross The Carew Cross in its current setting View of the eastern side of the Carew Cross from below Intricate fretwork on the western face of the Carew Cross Head and shoulders above the rest! Words of dedication Interpretative thoughts on the meaning of the dedication Majestic in its power - the Carew Cross from below Castles in the landscape - Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire Eastern face of the Carew Cross from below close up Face on and fabulous Crosses in the landscape 1 - how we might imagine the Carew Cross to have appeared Crosses in the landscape 2 - Kilfenora Crosses in the landscape 3 - the Intimate beauty of the Nevern Cross, Pembrokeshire
Comments