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Object type: Fragment of decorated engaged column
Measurements: H. 20 cm (7.9 in); W. 15.5 cm (6.1 in); D. 14 cm (5.5 in)
Stone type: Sparry matrix supported, slightly peloidal and slightly shelly oolite. Hollow ooliths common (0.2 to 0.8 mm). Shell debris 2–5 mm. Cleeve Cloud Member, Birdlip Limestone Formation, Inferior Oolite Group, Middle Jurassic.
Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 316-20; Fig. 18G
Corpus volume reference: Vol 10 p. 216-7
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This decorated fragment of an engaged half-round shaft is covered with enmeshed median-incised tendrils, one of which finishes in a volute. The surviving edge carries a broad, slightly convex moulding and an adjacent decorated face that is dominated by a triangular leaf-flower from the envelope of which emerges a short, tightly scrolled tendril. Two-strand stems occupy the remainder of the decorated surface. The uncarved surface at the back of the block retains the remains of a circular fixing hole running down the centre of the stone.
The most clearly diagnostic feature is the broad triangular leaf-flower from the hollow calyx of which issues a tightly scrolled tendril. There is an exact parallel in one of the initial letters of fol. 135v of the Junius Psalter, second quarter of the tenth century (Temple 1976, 38–9, cat. 7, pl. I). This accords in general date with the four grave-covers described above (Gloucester St Oswald 5–8); it is possible that this piece represents a door-jamb, canopy support, or piece of church furniture associated with these tombs.
