I was most interested to read your response, Willy.
I had selected only two small extracts to introduce St Edward's Staff, but I had formed the impression myself during reading that its original use had been as a walking stick.
My view is that a practical piece of equipment became a revered object after the death of Edward, with a spiritual purpose then applied to it.

But this Staff seems to have confounded people over centuries. Another extract from Twining -

" With the Reformation some changes took place in the manner of delivery of the regalia at the coronation. The first such occasion was that of Edward VI in 1547. For the first time we hear of the delivery of St Edward's Staff which was handed to the King by the Archbishop. The sceptre and some other ornaments were delivered not by the clergy but by a nobleman. At the coronation of Mary both the sceptre and St Edward's Staff were delivered by noblemen, and it was not until the coronation of Charles I that the Church reasserted its ancient rights. The positon of St Edwrad's Staff was evidently the subject of uncertainty. We find in the footnotes and comments made by Archbishop Laud in the document entitled the Manner of the Coronation of Charles I of England at Westminster 2 February 1626 that he remarks that the delivery of the St Edward's Staff was not in the Liber Regalis but was said to have been used at the coronation of James I. "

Perhaps we will see more of the push and pull between church and nobles as we look at other pieces of regalia.

Regarding the piece of the Cross, I cannot imagine that it survived the plundering, if it was ever in the monde of St Edward's Staff.