The Penmon Park cross consists of a base, shaft and head, all highly ornamented and all of about 1000 AD. There is a tradition that the stone originally stood close to Penmon Priory Church (NPRN 301734). It would have been located close to the boundary of Penmon Park (NPRN 265404). It was removed from its historical site and brought within the church in 1977. Excavation on the site demonstated that it had been underpinned with a concrete raft in 1926. It is thought that the cross was once taller with an extra section between the head and present shaft. The Incised cross-head fragment, Llangaffo Church (NPRN 415199), is similar in style.

On the front are depictions of St Anthony being tempted by demons and another scene, probably The Flight into Egypt. Elsewhere the decoration consists of interlace and knots with a ring-chain on the back. The missing head has replaced by that from another cross, of Celtic type with a cross in the middle, thought to be made by the Manx school of carvers.

Sources: RCAHM Anglesey Inventory (1937), 123
Nash Williams 'Early Christan Monuments in Wales' (1950), 65-7
Smith in the Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian Society & Field Club for 1980, 101-110
Haslam, Orbach and Voelcker (2009), The Buildings of Wales: Gwynedd. Pevsner Architectural Guide, page 207.


RCAHMW, October 2009.