Derby Museum and Art Gallery

Found during the demolition of the church of St Alkmund in 1844 (Cox 1879, 122; Radford 1976, 44, 48). There is little detail of what was recovered during this process, but this stone was included in an account of 1879 as one of those recovered and presented to Derby Museum (Cox 1879).

St Alkmund

Good, although the shaft is incomplete with obvious damage to the top and bottom. A, B and D have good detail; C is worn with much of the finer detail missing but the scheme of decoration is reasonably clear.

All panels on the shaft are bordered laterally by a flat-banded arris with arcaded panels on two sides (A and C).

A (broad): Three zoomorphs are preserved on this face, two in the upper panel and the remains of the third in the lower. The uppermost animal, a quadruped with the head lost in the break in the stone, is seen in profile, with its legs terminating in ‘clubbed’ three-toed feet resting on the head or interlaced appendages of the creature below. The tail, extended up towards the break, is marked by a median incision and appears to curl back on itself, in a manner mirroring that of the tail of the creature below. This central quadruped, also seen in profile, has a wide body and long neck surrounded by a thin double outline which forms a collar separating the neck from the head. This features a long drooping ear, a wide-open muzzle and curled nose, with a lightly incised round eye with a pendant triangle trailing down to the collar. Its tongue, marked by a median incision, extends downwards to wrap around the neck and interlace with one of the forelegs, held up in the ‘heraldic’ pose. The tail, likewise, is marked by a central incision, and extends up towards the neck before curving down to pass behind the body and terminate in a curl between the front and back legs. The feet rest on the arched moulding below with one foot extending over it. The lowest, back-turned, zoomorph is incomplete with the legs now missing, but it too features the gaping muzzle and curled nose, with the round eye, and the incised tongue which extends down and then up to interlace with the tail, similarly incised. The wide body of this creature is also surrounded by a thin double outline, but is densely pelleted.

B (narrow): This face contains two entwined zoomorphs. Above the higher animal is a series of interlaced strands that fetter its neck. Incomplete at the top, the interlace forms irregular, flattened circular loops. Whilst they appear to be closed-circuit one extra thread passes through the loops and extends to the zoomorph below. This has a long, slender, profile body surrounded by a thin double outline with all four of its legs visible. One of the forelegs extends up towards the interlace above, its paw standing over one of the ribbons; the other foreleg hangs down, its foot (with three curled claws like those of the creatures on A), extending into the flat edge moulding. The back legs likewise hang downwards so that one passes over the top of the body of the lower animal, the other piercing its neck and extending into the edge moulding. The head is thrown backward and twisted round to face its body; it is characterised by a gaping muzzle, with a curled snout, a round eye with the possible remains of a trailing triangle extending towards the long neck; it grasps the extra strand of interlace in its mouth. The long tail terminates in a curl on the back of the lower zoomorph. The feet and part of the legs of this creature are missing. Like that above, its body has a thin double outline, the gaping jaw with curled snout, and round eye marked by the trailing triangle; it grasps the body of the upper animal in its mouth. An area of pelleted decoration overlies the front of its body, in an area which is damaged and incomplete.

C (broad): This face is more worn than the others but appears to consist of a series of intertwining zoomorphs with ribbon-like appendages whose bodies are surrounded by double outlines, and whose feet extend, in two instances, into the flat edge moulding on the right. In some cases, particularly towards the bottom of the panel, the bodies appear to have been filled with pelleted ornament.

D (narrow): This face contains the remains of three arched panels, each containing a zoomorph in profile, with the central one complete. The uppermost is a bird of which the head, neck and upper body are missing. The wings, slightly drooping, are demarcated by pellets, indicating the feathers, while the tail feathers, denoted as slightly fanned vertical ribbing on the right, rest on the moulding below. A singular muscular leg with a large bifurcating claw rests on the lower moulding to the left. The central panel contains a rampant beast in profile. It has a large head with the familiar gaping jaws, curled snout, round eye and dependent triangle, and a lappet extending from the back of the head. The tongue falls from the side of the mouth and curls up to terminate under the lower jaw. The body is contained by a double outline; it has slender hips and long legs: three rest on the moulding below, with the characteristic clawed feet, while the fourth is held upright in the heraldic pose to touch the moulding above. The erect tail ends in a loop and there is a small interlace loop below the body between the front and back legs. The lowermost profile zoomorph is back-turned and has the double outline round its body. The head features the round eye and gaping muzzle from which the tongue extends to form a strand of interlace that loops round an upraised back leg, and pierces the body, continuing down into the break in the stone. The remains of what may be a front leg lie below the creature’s chest by the edge moulding on the left, but the damage to the stone at this point make this unclear.

Sometimes referred to as ‘The St Alkmund Stone’, the decoration of this shaft presents a fine example of the zoomorphic art of the ninth to tenth century. Similar animal ornament is found in the region, for example, on Derby 2 or at Breedon-on-the-Hill and Asfordby in Leicestershire. Animals, fettered by their extended appendages, are a particular feature of the Derby region, being found at Spondon (1), Repton (16), and Aston-on-Trent (1), for example, and are sometimes referred to as ‘Mercian Beasts’ because of their distinctive regional style. In its later manifestations this reflects a regional version of the ‘Jellinge’ style of the Viking period, examples of which have been previously described by Bailey (1980, 55-7) and in these instances there is difficulty in being able, with any certainty, to identify strictly Scandinavian animal art. The interlace ornamentation on C and extensions to the zoomorphs, compare with many other examples in the region, for example on the shaft at Hope (1) and Repton (15) in Derbyshire, or Leek (3) in Staffordshire. The zoomorphs depicted on D suggest that there may have been an attempt to show creatures of the air, land and water (although the stone is incomplete) where the uppermost creatures appear to be bird-like with land beasts below and aquatic or serpentile zoomorphs at the bottom. The irregularity and variable width of interlaces appear to be particular features of Anglo-Saxon sculptural art in the north Midlands.

Ninth (possibly early tenth) century

(—) 1845b, 398; Bateman 1848, 206; Cox 1879, 121–2; (—) 1885b, 502; Allen and Browne 1885, 356; Browne 1886, 166; Browne 1889, I/II(2), fig. 3; Browne 1897–8, 125; Ward 1900, 19; Cox 1903a, 39; Le Blanc Smith 1904a, 195; Le Blanc Smith 1905b, 106–9, figs. 9–11; Allen 1905, 281; Brøndsted 1924, 215–16, 232, 288–9; Collingwood 1927, 136; Tudor 1927, 32, 46; Tudor 1929, 58, 127; Tudor 1936a, 109; Routh 1937a, 23–2, pls. X b–c, XI a–b; Routh 1937b, 26–7, pls. X b–c, XI a–b; Kendrick 1938, 208–10, 213–14, pl. XCVII; Fisher 1959, 80; Rix 1960, 77; Radford 1961a, 209; Stone 1972, 29–30; Hall 1974, 20; Lang 1976, 82–3, 87; Radford 1976, 44, 48–51, no. 5, pls. 6–7; Cramp 1977, 230, fig. 63.i; Wheeler 1977, 241; Pevsner and Williamson 1978, 171; Plunkett 1984, 71–6, 137, 162–3, 200, 265, 296, pl. 7 (Derby II); Wilson 1984, 146; Craven and Stanley 1986, 27; Leonard 1993, 16–17; Sidebottom 1994, 105, 149, 243 (Derby 7); Sidebottom 2000, 216; Cramp 2006a, 42; Bailey 2010, 124; Bergius 2012, 164–5 n.78; Everson and Stocker 2015, 80, 123, 124, 213