Freelance consultant for digital heritage

New Book: Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture, XI, Early Cornish Sculpture

If you are interested in inscribed stones, medieval crosses, and the many other carved wonders of Cornwall, then you will no doubt be interested to know that the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture, XI, Early Cornish Sculpture by Ann Preston Jones and Elisabeth Okasha (published by OUP) is now available to buy.

The book has taken many years to compile, with each sculpture illustrated in clear black and white photography accompanied by comprehensive discussion.

The official description is as follows:

This book is part of a major series published by the British Academy.
Volume 11 surveys the county of Cornwall and provides an analytical
catalogue of its early sculpture, highlighting the particular
distinctiveness of Cornish sculpture compared to other regions.
Readers may well be astonished at the range and scale of the Cornish
monuments.

Introductory chapters set the material within its topographical,
historical and archaeological context, considering it especially in
relation to its development as Cornwall, at one time an independent
Celtic kingdom, became part of the Anglo-Saxon realm. To fully
illuminate the material, the volume includes specialist contributions
on the geology of the monuments, the historical background, and the
sculpture which continued the tradition of monumental carving in
Cornwall after the Norman Conquest.

There is a full photographic record of each monument, taken for the
most part by the authors, which highlights the fact that Cornwall,
unlike some regions, has many impressive and complete monuments still
surviving. A large number of these were illustrated by A. G. Langdon
over a century ago in his seminal Old Cornish Crosses; however the
present volume includes many stones not illustrated by Langdon and
offers new interpretations and detailed photographs of others. The
monuments with early sculpture include substantial free-standing
crosses, altar stones, and some recumbent coped stones.The dating and
context of a number of potentially early fonts and some simple
cross-incised stones is also discussed.

The relationship of the Cornish sculpture to monuments in Wales,
Ireland and Western Britain is of particular interest given Cornwall’s
position as a peninsula jutting into the western seaways. In this
context, the potential role of Scandinavian influence is considered
against the absence of evidence for Scandinavian settlement in
Cornwall.

I made a small contribution to the book through my work on the Gulval cross base which revealed images of the Four Evangelists.

The official price is £70 but Amazon already seem to be offering a discount.