@NellytheWillow @Vibracobra23 excuse the poor quality photo, but I saw the same stonework 'cone' yesterday in Monmouth!

@2ruth @Vibracobra23 Wow! Thanks. Interesting. I think this type of pinnacle is fairly widespread on churches but this is something different. Do you know what it is? It could be some sort of ancient 'cross' but without context it's difficult to say.

@NellytheWillow @Vibracobra23 I think it was a cross (though not the conventional one!) It was in the road junction outside the rather lovely St Thomas a Becket church in Monmouth

@2ruth @Vibracobra23 Oh that's very interesting. It sounds like something found in Cornwall that's known as a lantern cross (which isn't a cross either) that has carved scenes from Christ's life. This one seems to have niches with figures in them.

@2ruth @Vibracobra23 I've now found there's a Wikipedia entry for it, though I haven't read it all yet, but it is thought to have an ancient history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cross%2C_Monmouth

@NellytheWillow @2ruth @Vibracobra23

In my region (Westphalia, Germany), it is well documented that during the Christianisation of the Saxons by the Franks, many formerly pagan sites (places of worship, assembly sites, etc.) were transformed into and adapted as Christian sites. Perhaps that is also the case here — just my own speculation.

There is a very interesting book on this subject, but unfortunately it is only available in German...

https://bibliothek.rzgierskopp.de/index.php?title=Der_Himmel_ist_unter_uns

@chris @2ruth @Vibracobra23 Yes, these crosses held both religious and community significance, and, as you say, are found all over the country. You could be right about pagan sites changed into Christian ones may include market crosses, although I'd have thought they originated in later medieval rather than pre-Christian times, with the development of towns and civic activity.

@NellytheWillow @chris @Vibracobra23 It's a fascinating subject and I've long been aware of the Christian overlaying of more ancient sites ... I don't know enough factually/academically, and I can see that the marketplace as we know it would perhaps be late medieval, rather than pre-christian, but there would nonetheless have been trade ... ahhh I don't know! I'm really just recently delving into the actual history of Britain to augment a vague understanding and a kind of felt sense!

@NellytheWillow @chris @Vibracobra23 for some reason (I'm not quite sure why) it's the actual design of the pinnacle that intrigues me - and it's why it caught my eye after seeing the original post, the Stratton arch. It looks sort of Indian or Thai to my untrained eye, and I wonder if there's a significance to the design.

@2ruth @NellytheWillow @Vibracobra23 I suspect that the builders and restorers drew inspiration from Gothic architecture, where such structures are often found (see, for example, the spires of Gothic cathedrals).