Full Report for Listed Buildings


The list description is not intended to be a complete inventory of what is listed: it is principally intended to aid identification. By law, the definition of a listed building includes the entire building and (i) any structure or object that is fixed to the said building and ancillary to it and (ii) any other structure or object that forms part of the land and has done so since before 1 July 1948, and was within the curtilage of the building, and ancillary to it, on the date on which said building was first included in the list, or on 1 January 1969, whichever was later.

Summary Description


Reference Number
13330
Building Number
 
Grade
I  
Status
Designated  
Date of Designation
22/02/1963  
Date of Amendment
 
Name of Property
Medieval Cross and associated Slab in the Churchyard of the Church of St Donat  
Address
 

Location


Unitary Authority
Vale of Glamorgan  
Community
St. Donats  
Town
Cowbridge / Y Bont-Faen  
Locality
St Donats  
Easting
293364  
Northing
168057  
Street Side
 
Location
On the south side of the church and about 10m from it.  

Description


Broad Class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary  
Period
 

History
Medieval churchyard cross, probably later C15 in origin and seemingly wholly of medieval parts except for the base step and its lip. The cross was restored in c1928 but this could have involved its complete reconstruction with possibly the loss of at least one step. The recusant Stradlings would have protected it from demolition during the Reformation and even later when Cromwell is said to have visited the castle. It has also been suggested that the cross might be the one that was removed from in front of the castle by Dr. Nicholl-Carne between 1862 and 1877, but an apparently early C19 print in the church guidebook seems to show the cross in the churchyard at that time.  

Exterior
Fine Sutton and Querella sandstone with local lias limestone for the steps. Tapering octagonal shaft in square socketstone with broach stops at the angles. This is carried on square base which at the top has stops at the angles and a chamfer; two square steps below this, the lower one with a pronounced lip. The shaft bears an octagonal knop and a canopied head of limestone with a representation of the Crucifixion on one side and, on the other, of the Madonna and Child. On the ground close to the medieval cross there is a medieval stone slab with incised crosses.  

Interior
 

Reason for designation
Included and highly graded for its special interest as a complete medieval cross with a rare medieval gravestone beside it.  

Sources
  • St. Donat Tithe Map, 1848, Glamorgan County Reference Library, Bridgend.,
  • John Newman, The Buildings of Wales, Glamorgan, Penguin Books, 1995, p 558.,
  • G R Orrin, Medieval Churches of the Vale of Glamorgan, D Brown and Sons, 1988, pps 327-33.,
  • The previous list description (1982) also refers:,
  • Glamorgan County History, Vol III.,
  • Stewart Williams (editor), Vale of Glamorgan Series, Vol IV, Saints and Sailing Ships for Arthur J Richard, Medieval Sculpture in the Vale.,

Cadw : Full Report for Listed Buildings [ Records 1 of 1 ]



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