The Carew Cross

The upper stone consists of a wheel-head and neck of sandstone, the carved cross having short enlarging arms overlapping the ring and terminating in segments of a circle. The voids between the ring and the arms of the cross are pierced. On one face the cross carries inscribed cruciform lines, on the other a fragment of an interlace survives but most of the design is lost. The neck carries two panels of key decoration on each side. There is no edge decoration. The upper stone is tenoned into the lower one, with some lead-staining of the latter. The lower stone is also decorated in entirely abstract patterns. There are four panels on each side, of varying size, with key or interlace decorations. One panel on the W face carries an inscription at the left, with a blank at the right seemingly waiting for a second inscription which was never added. The inscription is read as 'Margiteut Rex Edg[uin] Filius'. The two edges of the lower stone are decorated in guilloche. The stone has little ramped enlargements at the foot.