Appendix B item (stones wrongly associated with pre-Conquest period)

Crucifixion set within a fourteenth-century ogee-headed niche in east wall of chancel externally. Cut from the same oolitic limestone as the niche and its surround. The face is flat and the large round 'head' has arched eyebrows (but no eyes) and a thin vertical nose above a small mouth. Below the long loin-cloth the legs are rather short and truncated. The cross-arms and shaft are narrow and straight-sided. But this strange carving was not, originally, as crude as it now seems. It is clear that what remains of the crucifixion is a 'defaced' figure. There is no indication of any natural fault line in the surrounding stone, and one is forced to conclude that all of the original carved details have been deliberately cut off, and the face on the carving has then been 'reinstated' by a sympathetic but unskilled hand. The figure's large round head was presumably originally a halo behind Christ's head, and the legs may appear foreshortened because the feet have been cut away and the lower legs and the base of the shaft have been rather crudely remodelled. The sagging, possibly twisted figure is similar to that on many Anglo-Saxon crucifixions. However, the fact that this is a single block of stone makes it much more probable that the whole ensemble is fourteenth century, and that the crudeness of the present figure carving is what has led to the suggestion of an Anglo-Saxon date.