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Object type: Part of round-shaft
Measurements:
Overall: H. 247 cm (97.2 in); W. 33 > 27 cm (12.9 > 10.6 in); D. 28 > 21 cm (11 > 8.3 in)
Lower section: W. 50 > 36 cm (19.6 > 14.2 in); Diam. 52 > 50 cm (20.5 > 19.6 in)
Stone type: Pale brown (5YR 5/2), poorly sorted, clast-supported, quartz sandstone. The sub-angular to sub-rounded grains range from 0.3 to 1 mm across, but are dominantly medium grained in the range 0.5 to 0.8 mm. Most clasts are of quartz set in a gypsum or barites cement. Helsby Sandstone Formation, Sherwood Sandstone Group, Triassic (R.T. & C.R.B.)
Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 515–18
Corpus volume reference: Vol 13 p. 273-274
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A round-shafted cross with a tapered rectangular section at the top, separated from the cylindrical lower section by a wide collar moulding (type h: Cramp 1991, fig. 1). The lower portion is almost circular in section at the bottom but has been slightly flattened below each face of the upper section, below the collar, to form a taper. Only the upper rectangular section, truncated at the top, is decorated.
A (broad): Weathering makes it difficult to identify the decoration with certainty, but it appears to comprise an irregular line pattern with no symmetry extending from the top. Below, is an irregular line motif, again with no symmetry, resembling an inverted triangle with its ends curling outwards. On each side is a weathered rolled edge moulding which is now quite indistinct. The wide collar moulding retains some decoration, comprising a continuous horizontal three-strand simple interlace.
B (narrow): Again, the decoration on this face is now difficult to identify with any certainty. It appears to comprise a meandering interlace with no symmetry, forming a free-hand design with loops and crossings that vary across the face. It is weathered and appears to extend to the sides of the shaft which lack edge mouldings. The collar below is in better condition than on A with the interlace pattern being bounded by thin horizontal mouldings.
C (broad): Decorated with a meandering interlace pattern, similar to that on B, with a lack of symmetry throughout which terminates above the collar in a closed-circuit design comprising two ovoid loops. Overall, the pattern appears ‘squashed’ on the left-hand side. The whole is bounded by indistinct edge mouldings.
D (narrow): This face is decorated in a similar manner to C, with a closed-circuit design at the bottom of the upper section comprising two inter-linked loops. Immediately above this is a meandering interlace pattern which touches the top of the closed-circuit loops and may be connected to it, although this is now unclear. There are rolled edge mouldings on either side. The wide collar below has been damaged and its interlace is now missing.
This monument represents the almost complete remains of a round-shafted cross with only part of the top and the cross-head missing. Pape (1945-6, 32 and figs.) found the decoration difficult to discern in the 1940s but attempted to reproduce some of it, albeit apparently inaccurately. Although of larger dimensions than most other round-shafts in the region, its shape conforms to that of monuments found elsewhere, comprising a roughly cylindrical shaft surmounted by a rectangular-sectioned upper portion, the two areas separated by a collar moulding. The decoration bears similarities with Brailsford 1 in Derbyshire which also contains an irregular design on some of its faces (Ills. 127-30). The flattened areas of the upper portion of the shaft suggest that the monument may, as elsewhere, have been carved from a cylindrical pillar reused from a Roman context.
