The Corpus: Lindisfarne 24

Volume I: County Durham and Northumberland

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Current Display: Lindisfarne 24, Northumberland

Overview

Object type: Almost complete round-headed grave-marker [1]

Measurements: H. 21.6 cm (8.5 in); W. 15.2 cm (6 in); D. 3.8 cm (1.5 in)

Stone type: Fine-grained red sandstone

Plate numbers in printed volume: Pl. 200.1119-1121

Corpus volume reference: Vol 1 p. 202-203

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Present Location

Priory Museum, Lindisfarne

Evidence for Discovery

Found in February 1915 in clearing out north transept of priory church. Not in situ

Church Dedication

No Dedication

Present Condition

Slightly damaged but unworn

Description

Only one face is carved.

A (broad): A median-incised cross of type F1 is mitred into a double-outlined frame. The centre of the cross is a circle with an inset centre. There are two inscriptions:

(a) Upper quadrants, in runes:

os II gyþ

(b) Lower quadrants, in Anglo-Saxon capitals:

+OS II GYÐ

This is an Old English feminine personal name.

Discussion

This is perhaps the best proportioned layout of all the Lindisfarne group. The lines are fine and crisp, and the cross well related to the frame. Both the runic and the Latin inscriptions are confident and well spaced. The way in which the cross-arms are mitred into the frame is paralleled on 25 and at Hartlepool (no. 7).

Date

Mid seventh to mid eighth century

References

Peers 1914-15, 134-5, fig. 2; Peers 1915-16; Browne 1916, 79-81, fig. on 79; Brown 1918-19, 204, fig. 5, 10-11; Brown 1921, 68; Peers 1923-4, 259, fig. 2; Collingwood 1927, 10-11, fig. 161; Kendrick and Hawkes 1932, 343, fig. 121; Friesen 1933, 52; Arntz 1938, 76, 89; Bæksted 1943, 44-5; Hodgkin 1952, 296 and fig.; Marquardt 1961, 92-3; Okasha 1971, 94-5, pl. 76; Page 1973, 104, 143-4, fig. on 104

Endnotes

1. The following are general references to the Lindisfarne stones: (—) 1855-7e, 275; (—) 1869-79c, viii; Rivoira 1933, 153; Elliott 1959; 81; Henry 1965, 158; Coatsworth 1981, 25.