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National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

National Museum Cardiff, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP

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National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Artefacts in the National Museum tell the story of early medieval Wales.

Highlights

  • Early Christian artworks
  • Rood sculpture

Artefacts in the National Museum tell the story of early medieval Wales. Although some items are not on permanent display, the collection illuminates several places encountered elsewhere in this guide.

The handbell of St Gwynhoedl is currently displayed in the archaeology section, from Llangwnnadl church in Gwynedd. Celtic saints are often associated with handbells, used to announce their presence, and another larger example is displayed alongside.

Several items tell the story of pagan religion during the Roman era, and there is one very old artefact with an explicit Christian link. A large 5th-century gravestone commemorates Porius, who is described as a Christian on its inscription. It dates from soon after the Roman era ended.

Some very crudely carved cross shafts demonstrate early, unsophisticated attempts at devotional artwork, while later examples show more traditional Celtic designs, with a surprisingly strong Irish influence: fragments of a cross from the churchyard in Caerleon have bird-like angelic figures dating from the 10th century.

Later medieval art is represented by a very rare surviving wooden cross from a rood screen, the only one I encountered while researching this book. A rood screen divides the nave from the chancel in a church, rood meaning ‘cross’ in Anglo-Saxon. This 13th-century wooden sculpture was discovered hidden in a blocked-off staircase in the church in Kemeys Inferior, a village 4 miles northeast of Newport. It is less than a couple of feet tall – smaller than I had imagined these objects to be, perhaps magnified in my mind by their devotional power at drawing pilgrims. The legs and one foot are missing, and the arms are later replacements, further emphasising its precarious survival. Studies have confirmed that it was once covered in gold leaf, immediately bringing to mind the golden rood of Brecon Cathedral.

Rarest of all survivors, this wooden cross from a medieval rood screen is kept at the museum. Only one of its feet survives. Image© National Museum ofWales.
Directions

www.museumwales.ac.uk

W3W: swing.friday.chill

GPS: 51.4855N 3.1770W

The museum is open daily 10am–5pm, closed on Mondays apart from bank holidays. Entrance is free.

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Britain’s Pilgrim Places

This listing is an extract from Britain’s Pilgrim Places, written by Nick Mayhew-Smith and Guy Hayward and featuring hundreds of similar spiritually charged sites and landscapes from across Britain.

Proceeds from sale of the book directly support the British Pilgrimage Trust, a non-profit UK charity. Thank you.

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Tom Jones

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POI

National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

National Museum Cardiff, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP

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