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 (i) and 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
19678
Building Number
Grade
I
Status
Designated
Date of Designation
07/06/1963
Date of Amendment
22/04/1998
Name of Property
Pillar of Eliseg
Address
Location
Unitary Authority
Denbighshire
Community
Llantysilio
Town
Llangollen
Locality
Valle Crucis
Easting
320272
Northing
344528
Street Side
E
Location
The pillar is raised on a tumulus, approximately 50m from the road, and 400m N of Valle Crucis Abbey
Description
Broad Class
Religious, Ritual and Funerary
Period
History
The cross was set up in the C9 by Cyngen, 808-854 AD, last king of Powys in honour of his great grandfather, Eliseg, who had enlarged the kingdom by taking land occupied by the English. The presence of this outstanding cross here indicates the presence of a royal estate in this valley. The mound on which it stands could well be his burial place as excavation prior to the re-erection of the cross in 1780 revealed a burial cist, but this could equally be a prehistoric tumulus. The recording of the inscription by Edward Llwyd in the late C17 has been fundamental to any understanding of the early history of the Kingdom of Powys.
Exterior
The base section of a sandstone 'round-shaft' cross, approximately 2.41m high, the upper part broken and lost after being thrown down in the Civil War, set in a socket on a large flat base, approximately 1.65m x 1.65 m x 0.42m thick. The cross was inscribed with a long text of 31 lines in round half-uncial script, and was most fortunately recorded by Edward Llwyd in 1696. It is now almost invisible, and has an added inscription on the opposite, NE, face recording the re-setting up in 1780, by T Lloyd de Trevor.
Interior
Reason for designation
Included at Grade I as a very important cultural icon in the history of Wales, and of the greatest significance as an early Celtic cross, unusually fully inscribed, illuminating the early history of the kingdom of Powys.
Scheduled Ancient Monument
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