Volume I: County Durham and Northumberland

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Current Display: Bolam 03, Northumberland Forward button Back button
Overview
Present Location
Built into north-east and north-west corners of church porch, inside
Evidence for Discovery
None
Church Dedication
St Andrew
Present Condition
Unworn but broken at top and one side. Traces of paint and plaster adhering to surface
Description

a. A (long): The flat upper panel is divided from the lower chamfered panel by a roll moulding. The upper contains one and one half registers of saltire ornament, in which on the left the relief saltires are formed by grooving the outline. On the right a different type of saltire is formed by cutting away the background. The design is finished on the right by a broad flat-band moulding. Below, four kinds of alternate facing cable mouldings are enclosed at the top and bottom by a flat-band moulding. The double cable at the centre is so cut that it resembles a `wheat-ear' design. B (narrow): A rectangular panel at the top and a triangular panel below survive. The upper panel contains a saltire cross in relief with the ground behind deeply recessed. Below, the cable patterns have been cleverly converted to a zig-zag. C and D: Built in.

b. Part of the same or a paired architectural fragment. A (long): The flat upper panel is divided by a plain roll moulding from the lower chamfered face. The upper panel is enclosed at the left by a broad flat-band moulding and contains two panels with saltire ornament, the left with the saltire formed by grooving out the relief outline, the right by cutting along the background. Below are four rows of alternate facing cable mouldings and part of a plain flat-band moulding below them. B and C: Built in. D (narrow): Broken off.

Discussion

Appendix A item (stones dating from Saxo-Norman overlap period or of uncertain date).

These saltire patterns are also found in an incised form on Bolam 2 and Unknown Provenance 5, and in a relief form on the relieving arch round the blocked west door of Corbridge church (see also the finial cross, Corbridge 5).

Date
Second half of eleventh century
References
Hodges 1925b, 182
Endnotes

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