St Hilary - Rood
Introduction
The photograph on this page of St Hilary - Rood by Rob Farrow as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
St Hilary - Rood
Image: © Rob Farrow Taken: 19 Jul 2025
The figure of Christ on the cross is known as a "rood" - and in mediæval churches it was usually positioned above a (usually wooden) fretwork screen - known as the "Rood Screen". Very few mediæval roods survive due to the iconoclasm of the Reformation, but a good number of the screens still do. Here however we have a modern rood with no accompanying screen. Since the Reformation, crucifixes had been forbidden in churches, but by the C19th, with the renewed interest in Gothic and Mediaeval architecture they had become more acceptable - but still highly unpopular with strict Protestants who considered them "Popish". This crucifix is by Ernest Proctor the most prolific contributor to the Newlyn School artworks in the church.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
50.131002
Longitude
-5.428817