Within the churchyard of St Marcella and St Deiniol, almost entirely rebuilt in 1770s, are the possible remains of a churchyard cross. It was said to have been rediscovered during a survey of churches in North East Wales during the late 1990s, but in truth it had always been there, a little to the south of the chancel - an unassuming stump of the past.
The smooth, gently tapered shaft is a little over half a metre in height with a rounded top, while there is the suggestion of a square cross section beneath the soil.
Is this weathered smooth stump of a shaft the remains of Marchwiel's churchyard cross?
Are these the remains of the shaft of a churchyard cross? It is difficult to say - perhaps impossible. There is, as far as can be said, nothing in the written record to confirm the presence of the cross, despite the distinct likelihood that the church here, which can trace its origins to at least the 13th century, would have had one. But, being confident that the churchyard once had a cross, does not mean that this worn stump was the cross. However, knowing that the churchyard likely had a cross does complicate the matter, certainly. And there are those that will brook no argument, the Royal Commission for one, who visited the churchyard in 1911 and dated the cross to the 14th century[1] - which does rather represent the majority of churchyard crosses in the North East of Wales. They also claim to have seen parts of the cross in the rockery of a nearby house.[2]
Still, it’s a curious little thing - and it serves to make us wonder. And of course it is possible that this unassuming stump in the churchyard of the really rather lovely church of St Marcella and St Deiniol is the cross that would have once dominated its surroundings.
​
Footnotes
[1] The suggestion that there is a buried base, or socket stone stems from the visit of the Royal Commission in 1911, who claim to have seen it.
[2] The location of said house is not known - the cross fragments, if indeed they were fragments of the cross, now lost.
​
Further Reading
​
E. Owen, Old Stone Crosses of the Vale of Clwyd, Oswestry & Wrexham, (1886)
RCAHM, An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire, Denbigh, London, (1914)
R. J. Silvester & R. Hankinson, Medieval Crosses and Crossheads, CPAT Report No. 1036, (March 2010)
​
​
​