Museum of Antiquities, Newcastle upon Tyne, no. 1956.203. A

First mentioned in 1885-6. Donated to Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne by Mr A. J. Stevenson. Recorded that found about thirty years previously when old house in Tynemouth pulled down

No Dedication

Very worn in places

A (broad): One complete panel survives, surrounded at the sides by a double roll moulding and at the base by a framed twist. In the centre of the panel is a frontal figure in the punched outline technique, standing with feet turned outwards. He wears a tunic with outward turned hem and appears to be holding a book in his upturned hands. Framing him are two animals, their heads below his feet, front paws raised, back legs turned back and their tails or wings linked in strands above the figure's head in a tree-like effect.

B (narrow): The remains of two panels of interlace enclosed by a double-grooved moulding. (i) Closed circuit turned pattern D with added diagonal. (ii) Only the terminals of an interlace survive.

C (broad): Apparently originally enclosed in a double moulding formed by grooving a wide flat-band, and is divided into three panels by crude cable mouldings. It is now very worn. (i) A `centaur' faces left and holds a round-headed staff in its right hand. The tail which terminates in a three-element leaf is knotted and joins with the creature's hair or halo. Between the crouched back legs and the front is a single circular space filler. (ii) A complete panel of interlace, three registers of simple pattern E set horizontally. The panel is framed by a double-grooved moulding. (iii) Possibly the remains of interlace.

D (narrow): Chiselled away.

This cross has been convincingly linked with Ovingham (no. 1), which also has the figure with a book (a saint?) standing under a tangled arch (Hastings and Romans 1946, 182; see Ovingham entry for discussion of the iconography). Other features such as the `centaur' and the horizontal panels of pattern E link it with the Aycliffe group (Adcock 1974, 349). However, the centaur on Aycliffe 2 has clearly evolved some way from the Tynemouth type. The centaur appears elsewhere on ninth-century carvings in Britain where it possibly symbolizes the dual nature of Christ. Here, the circle between its feet could also symbolize the Host. This stone at Tynemouth seems to reflect a copying of earlier iconographic types perhaps derived from Norham (Introduction, p. 28).

Late tenth to early eleventh century

Boyle 1885-6; Hodges 1887-8b, 236; Hodges 1893, 68; (—) 1901-2f, 276 and pl. facing; Carr 1904, 120, fig. 1; Greenwell 1907, 134-5, fig. 3; Collingwood 1927, 135; Hastings and Romans 1946, 182, pl. 7, 1-2; Adcock 1974, 349, pl. 179A; Bailey 1978, 181, fig. 9, 4; Bailey 1980, 253; Cramp and Miket 1982, no. 41