Churchyard Cross

A pastime for people with more money than sense in 18th century England, was to commission a whimsical and sometimes extravagant structure. This was to serve as little more than a conversation piece, ideally for people to permanently recognize the benefactor’s generosity to the community. A very early example is Bristol High Cross in Stourhead, Southwest England, first erected in 1373.

Contrary to what we might think, today's evangelical megachurch with thousands of worshippers, particularly in the U.S. and South Korea, is not a new phenomenon. Services to large congregation go back further even than the Billy Graham crusade meetings of the mid-20th century. The Sermon on the Mount is an early example, when Jesus preached to thousands on a hillside (Matthew 5, 6, & 7).

It is common that whenever a famous person visits an area, whether this is a president or David Beckham, the word is spread that something special is going down and a large crowd turns up. In 1770, Methodist Minister John Wesley gave one of his sermons in Llanelli, Wales. The crowd was too large to fit into the parish church so John preached from the Churchyard Cross.

Like the Consecration Cross the Churchyard Cross is a visible reminder to people visiting holy ground.

(See also Plague Cross)

A churchyard is not necessarily a graveyard, but being consecrated ground, many churchyards do contain graves. Wealthy people could afford entombment in a crypt beneath the church building but commoners were buried in the churchyard. Most grave markers were simple stone slabs until the 18th century, often inscribed with little more than the deceased person's initials and date of death. A Churchyard Cross served as a communal cross over the graves.

The custom of erecting War Memorials began when people wanted to celebrate a great victory. Remembering the dead who secured that victory was of secondary importance. (Two famous old war memorials include Nelson's Column in London and Arc de Triomphe in Paris. They contain no names of those killed.)

Immediately after the First World War, which claimed so many lives, memorials were erected in prominent and public places such as church grounds to commemorate those who died or were injured in the war. Curiously these are still called 'War Memorials' even though most local people want to remember their lost loved ones and forget the war.

We no longer live in Napoleonic times and war memorials are no longer intended to glorify war. Yet for a few noisy people that is precisely what they do. The memorial is centre stage and can be used as a platform for promoting politics or ideology. The controversy over recent visits by political leaders to large war memorials in Japan (Yasukuni Shrine, Tokyo) and Germany (Bitburg) opened up old wounds. Taking advantage of memorials in this way shows no respect for those who perished.

Other names are Memorial Cross, War Cross, Cross of Sacrifice (originating from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Latin Cross with a superimposed sword, blade down, like the Soldier's Cross), or Intending Cross (meaning the deceased are aspiring to go to Heaven).