Houelt Cross

Inside Llantwit Major Church is this fine Celtic Cross with a disc head.
'The disc has a cross with square ends and a central square, with diagonal patterning, and a ring whose arcs have a twist decoration.'

Carved from one piece of stone this a very precise work of art. It is truly beautiful but lacks the charm of the cartwheel stones in Margam museum

Stones Museum, Margam

Cross of Cynfelin in background, cart wheel crosses on left

Set on two levels in an old school, the stones museum at Margam is a collection of inscribed and sculptured stones from the area between Port talbot and Bridgend. They range from a Roman milestone to a Tudor tomb-cover, but the highlight, seen here at the back, is the tenth century Cross of Cynfelin.
My favourites however were two of the wheel crosses called Ilci and Ilquici which for a time served as a footbridge over a stream.

Ilci and Ilquici

 Although its lovely to see all these stones together and admire the skill and ingenuity of their creators part of me(the romantic bit) would still like to 'discover' them forming part of another structure or perhaps just visible beneath a tangle of brambles, preferably covered in a layer of  lichen.

They are all truly beautiful objects because they are irregular and imperfect. This is demonstrated by this wonderful cart wheel cross originally from near the railway station in Port Talbot.

Cartwheel cross

  Its not exactly round so it wouldn't make a very good wheel but it is definitely a cart wheel and it fits the stone its on and its the best part of a thousand years old. What more could you want from any sculpture?