#wheel cross

[thesilicontribesman]

The Gnoll Stone, (Cefn Hirfynydd), Celtic Wheel Cross Fragment, likely 11th Century CE, Swansea Museum, Wales

[thesilicontribesman]

10th Century CE Conbelin Disc Cross, Margam Stones Museum, Margam, Port Talbot, Wales

[thesilicontribesman]

10th Century CE 'Cross of Ilquici' Cartwheel Cross, Margam Stones Museum, Margam, nr. Port Talbot, Wales

[thesilicontribesman]

'The Gnoll Stone' (Cefn Hirfynydd), Swansea Museum, Wales

The stone is part of a Celtic wheel cross carved during the eleventh century. The figure is a Celtic priest wearing a short pleated kilt. He has his hands raised in prayer. Above the priest is the bottom section of the wheel cross.

This piece of stone is the upright shaft. The wider piece, carved with the rest of the wheel cross, has broken off at some time and is now lost. It represents a Christian tradition brought to Wales by monks from Ireland. Human figures carved on Celtic crosses are very unusual in Britain.

It is not known where the cross originally stood; it was found on a mountain near Banwen, north of Neath, where it may have been used as a boundary marker. During the eighteenth century, Sir Humphrey Mackworth moved the stone to his home, 'The Gnoll' in Neath. It was included in the grotto which he built in his garden