Browse crosses

 
Location:  Inside the main gate to the Churchyard and to the left.

Grid Ref:  709 732          Map location:  Click here to view map.

Purpose:  Memorial to the builder of the Church

Size:  7 feet 3 inches (2.21 metres) tall. 1 foot 8 inches (0.51 metres) across the arms. The base of the shaft is 10 inches (0.25 metres) wide and 12 inches (0.30 metres) deep.

Information:  This impressive Cornish cross is set up on a pedestal of 3 steps. The head and arms, which have been chamfered and taper inwards, are enclosed in a circle in the Cornish style. The shaft is also chamfered and is tapered from the base upwards. The socket stone is 2 feet 7 inches (0.79 metres) square and 18 inches (0.46 metres) high. It has a fancy finish to its top edges and corners.
 
All three steps of the pedestal are square, with each reducing in size from the one below. The heights of each also reduce from 16inches (0.41 metres) for the bottom step, to 14 inches (0.36 metres) for the middle and 12 inches (0.31 metres) for the top step. This makes the total height of the cross a full 12 feet 3 inches (3.73 metres) above ground level.

The top edges of the two upper steps have been chamfered to match the cross. The top step has also been engraved, as follows:

Front edge: To the Glory of God
Right hand edge: In loving memory of Charlotte Rosamond Larpent
Rear edge: Who built and endowed this Church in 1863
Left hand edge: "The Memory of the Just is Blessed" Prov x.7.
 
The cross, being relatively modern, is in a very good condition as is the church itself. The church is dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

leusdon_jubilee_stone.jpg (24207 bytes)On the nearby village green there are a couple of interesting features to command our attention. The first is the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Stone, which stands in the top left-hand corner of the green. The top of one face has been engraved with the royal crown, followed by the words ‘EIIR, Silver Jubilee, 1952-1977’. The stone originally came from Sweaton Farm, in the neighbouring village of Ponsworthy, and was provided by Veronica Cave-Penny. Veronica is a descendant of the family of Lieutenant Evelyn Cave-Penny, who was killed by a sniper in Palestine in the First World War, and in whose memory the memorial cross on the lower slopes of Corndon Down was erected.

The other feature on the village green is the Millennium Seat, which is to be found to the centre of the top of the green. This was commissioned by the Leusdon Memorial Hall Committee in order to commemorate the new millennium. In selecting a material for the seat, the appropriate choice was a vandal-proof, theft-proof, low maintenance and long-lasting five-ton slab of local granite. The boulder was supplied by local farmer, Mr Booty of Sherwell Farm, and required the largest digger in the area to lift and transport it to the site. A small brass plaque has been attached to the front of the stone to mark the arrival of the new millennium.