Long Tom Longstone Wayside Cross Standing Stone Bodmin Moor Cornwall
by Richard Brookes
Title
Long Tom Longstone Wayside Cross Standing Stone Bodmin Moor Cornwall
Artist
Richard Brookes
Medium
Photograph
Description
Long Tom also called the Longstone Cross is a standing stone or menhir that stands sentinel like on remote misty Bodmin Moor near to Minions in the parish of St Cleer, Cornwall, SW England, UK. The ancient wayside granite standing stone is some 9 feet (2.6m) tall with a wheel head 2ft 3in (0.7m) across inscribed with a cross. The scheduled monument may have originated during the medieval period between the 9th-15th Centuries as a route waymark over difficult terrain. Another theory is that the somewhat phallic stone was a Christianised pagan standing stone. Pagan symbols were often reused to win over local beliefs. Other pagan sites such as the Hurlers are nearby. It is one of 35 crosses (of which 21 are wayside crosses) surviving on Bodmin Moor and stands near to an ancient routeway still used to cross the moor today. The stone packing slabs can be seen at the base. Taken on a dull, misty autumn day in October.
Uploaded
December 30th, 2018
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Comments (1)
Susan Janus
Funny :) and kind of cool. Thanks for posting the detailed description. Pretty interesting.
Richard Brookes replied:
Thank you Susan, yes a little unusual. I had already walked about 10 miles that day around old mine sites and thought it worth visiting across the moor although the light was fading and bad weather was rolling in. Although not far from a minor road it seems a strange ancient monument in an eerie, remote moorland location.