Cross of Neith

The Cross of Neith (Welsh Y Groes Naid or Y Groes Nawdd) was a sacred relic believed to be a fragment of the True Cross of Jesus Christ that had been kept at Aberconwy by the kings and princes of Gwynedd, members of the Aberffraw dynasty who established the Principality of Wales.

It is not known when it had arrived in Gwynedd or how they had inherited it, but it is possible that it was brought back from Rome by King Hywel Dda following his pilgrimage in about 928.

The Alms Roll of 1283 records that a cleric named Huw ab Ithel presented this "part of the most holy wood of the True Cross" to Edward I of England at Aberconwy.

In 1352 the cross was given by King Edward III to the Dean and Chapter of St George's Chapel, Windsor, when, having founded the Order of the Garter, Edward established St George's Chapel as a major royal centre of devotion.

It has been speculated that it was destroyed, along with other relics, by Oliver Cromwell and fellow Puritans during the revolution of 1649, but other theories have also been put forward.