Monks' Dormitory, Durham cathedral, catalogue no. XLIV

Found in restoration of 1864, possibly in south wall of nave, which was taken down. Kept in Vicarage garden until 1896 when donated to chapter library, Durham

St Mary

Broken and worn

All faces but one destroyed.

A (top): Framed in an outer cable moulding and an inner roll moulding is an animal. Its head is bent back over its double-outlined body which has a spiral hip. It has a round ear, bumpy forehead, and pointed oval eye. Its tongue extends into interlace, and another extension crosses its neck.

This grave-cover is very similar to those found in the York minster excavations (Pattison 1973, pl. 39B). The animal with its rounded head and scroll-like ear is very similar to ninth-century Mercian beasts, but has further developed characteristics such as the interlaced body and the fang. As a type it is closely related to Gainford 2. Lang (1978b, 151-3) discusses the dating of this type of monument in some detail.

First half of tenth century

Stuart 1867, 64-5, pl. cxiv, 20; Haverfield and Greenwell 1899, no. XLIV, 107 and fig.; Hodges 1905, 230; Cramp 1965a, 7; Lang 1978b, 153

1. The following are general references to the Gainford stones: Greenwell 1880-9b, lxviii; Allen and Browne 1885, 352; (—) 1887-8b, 373. Brock 1888, 176, refers to stones in a graaden (later taken to Durham) and mentions illustrations by STuarts but does not describe them individually. (—) 1905-6b, 343-4, refers to discovery of stones in 1864-5 restoration, and there is also a reference to the finding in 1905 of another stone in the field west of the churchyard wall, and to the discovery of bones and a sword in the churchyard in 1889.