Churchyard, south of church

First recorded in present position in 1816 (Lysons and Lysons 1816, cc)

St Paul

Weathered but not damaged

The head, of which the upper vertical arm is slightly chipped away, is type B10, and is edged by fine double roll mouldings.

A (west, broad): In the centre of the head is a cabled circle in high relief enclosing five pellets arranged in a cruciform pattern with the largest pellet in the centre. The arms of the cross-head are covered with straggling fine-stranded interlace in which the patterns change from arm to arm. In the upper vertical arm, crossed long diagonals join two spiralled knots, the right-hand one certainly, the other probably, pattern A. Just above the boss, strands form a wide pattern E knot with a slack U-shaped terminal filled by three pellets. The other arms contain two spiralled and surrounded pattern A knots at the end of the arms, which have a rather plant-like appearance since centrally placed in each are three pellets.

The shaft is edged and enclosed at the top and bottom by a band of delicate four-cord interlace comprising irregular changing patterns, enclosed in fine roll mouldings. Most of the interlace detail in this outer frame is worn away at the top of the shaft, but lower down one can decipher changing patterns of D and E knots. The lower border is divided off into a small separate panel containing a four-cord motif based on pattern D loops. The face is subdivided into two large panels of interlace and a small squarish panel, apparently for an inscription. An area above the socket is uncarved. (i) Four registers of complete outward-facing pattern D with outside strands and included terminals. The upper terminal is cross-joined; the lower forms a fifth register comprising two simple pattern E knots within the circuiting strand and two strands lying loose. The individual knots are uneven in size and pairing. (ii) The marking out lines for three lines of an inscription which is now illegible. (iii) A panel of very irregular double-stranded interlace. The central register is half pattern F with included terminal. The other two appear to be irregular closed circuit versions of the same pattern.

B (south, narrow): The end of the cross-arm carries an incised interlace. The pattern, with pairs of unpinned loops and surrounding strands, is formed by varying the crossings of the pattern D motif on the end of the other arm (Adcock 1974, I, 244–5, fig. 37b).

The shaft is surrounded by an outer roll moulding and inner pelleted moulding at the sides. A spiral scroll springs from a single root and consists of ten volutes capped by a single medallion formed from two crossing plant strands. Each terminates in a single pointed leaf. The medallion is completely filled by a bunch of eight berries. Under that two composite leaf-flowers sprout on either side of the uppermost volute. Below, the next eight volutes are filled alternately by the spiralled stem of a long triangular leaf, which hangs outside the volute, or a rosette type berry bunch. The spaces between the volutes are filled alternately by triquetra knots and buds on short, stiff stalks. The leaf in the third volute above the root is of the split leaf type. The lowest volute is surrounded by a tangled 'undergrowth' of plant forms, including small rosette flowers or berry bunches and two elaborate composites of stamens and sheathed berries on either side of the root. Some of the strands of the main stem appear to be grooved or pelleted.

C (east, broad): The centre of the head carries a boldly projecting boss surrounded by a prominent roll moulding and then a circle of pellets enclosed in a scalloped moulding. This outermost moulding meanders off into the horizontal arms to form part of a plant scroll enclosing beasts of indeterminate type. The upper vertical arm is divided above the boss by a horizontal moulding and above that are the faint outlines of two human figures with arms extended towards each other.

The shaft is bordered by a single roll moulding and a simple twist. (i) A panel composed of alternately raised diamonds and sunken St Andrew's crosses set in eight rows. The upper five rows are composed of alternating two and three but at the lower of two and one with the extra space filled by small triquetra knots. (ii) A panel of key pattern (Allen 1903, no. 994a) grouped four by three and very worn. (iii) A panel containing a geometric cross with elaborate spiraliform terminals which link into the centre and through to each corner beyond the circle which surrounds it to form little pelta-like terminals. (iv) A panel surrounded by a fine roll moulding of three rows of key pattern (Allen 1903, no. 982). (v) A cross with spiraliform terminals almost identical with the one in (iii), save that two of the projections are merely formed by bending the double surround.

D (north, narrow): The arm is decorated by an incised interlace: a register of complete pattern D with bar-terminals.

The shaft is edged by a fine roll moulding with an inner cable moulding at the sides. The scroll terminates in two crossing strands with split leaf tips which form the terminals of a plant knot. The eight volutes below are almost identical with the corresponding area on the south side, save that there are leaf-flowers as well as buds and triquetra knots between the volutes and the berry bunches and drop leaves do not alternate in each volute. Half way down the shaft the main stem of the single scroll is converted by a tie into a crossing scroll. Each medallion of this scroll is filled by a different composition: a berry bunch flanked with two leaves; a leaf-flower and two leaves that hang outside the volute; two upturned berry bunches; two composite bell flowers. The scroll terminates in a triangular 'pediment' filled with pellets.

This is one of the most highly decorated crosses in Cumbria. The fine varied ornament, in which each area is sub-divided into small complex units; the surface enrichment of the inner borders and the pelleted strands; the taste for geometric and curvilinear ornament and the fine interlace border, recall the more florid of the Pictish slabs (Henderson 1978, pls. 3.1–3.5), while the slab-like proportions of Irton, and the small cross-head with wide U-shaped sockets indicate a date late in the pre-Conquest series.

Although panel (i), despite its lopsided appearance, was constructed on a formal unit measure, the carver does not appear to have used a grid on which to construct his interlace patterns on Face A panel (ii). The double-stranded pattern begins with a single orthodox register, but finishes with a large scale closed circuit pattern. Such closed circuit elements tend to be late in the pre-Viking period. The 'cat's cradle' patterns on the arms are a rare type, although comparable forms are localized in the west as for example on Carlisle 3, while a stiffer version of the type is found at Lancaster (Collingwood 1927a, fig. 128) and this combination of incised and relief ornament occurs on Pictish slabs such as Nigg, Ross and Cromarty (Allen 1903, fig. 72a) or cross-heads such as Glencairn, Dumfriesshire (Allen 1903, fig. 460), Lindisfarne, Northumberland (Cramp 1984, pl. 198) and Wharram Percy, Yorkshire, or on a late Anglian shaft at Ilkley, Yorkshire (Collingwood 1927a, fig. 49). The variation between dotted outline and broad strand interlace occurs also on Insular manuscripts and the treatment here may have been derived from manuscript art, like so many other ornamental motifs on this cross. Adcock places the interlace types on this cross with those found on Waberthwaite 1, or Wakefield, Hauxwell, and Kirkdale, Yorkshire (Adcock 1974, i, 254–6) on all of which are fine, high strands with a wide unit measure and interlace forms with capricious breaks and loose terminals; this group occurs late in the pre-Viking series. Panels outlined by simple twist ornament, as on Face D, also occur on relatively late crosses at Closeburn, Dumfriesshire (Allen 1903, 258) and Sandbach, Cheshire (Kendrick 1938, pl. XCIII); and a rather different pattern of changing interlaces frames the main panel on the cross-base at Walton, Yorkshire (Collingwood 1927a, fig. 65). Again these are late in the pre-Viking series. Also on Walton occur fine-stranded, wavering interlaces with long diagonals which include berries and rosettes.

The other geometric patterns on Irton are less easy to parallel. Chequers occur on Bewcastle but these are interspersed with sunken crosslets such as are found in Insular manuscripts and metalwork or on some Irish crosses (Henry 1933, 103–5, fig. 66); the confident roundels based on crosses with spiral terminals also occur in Ireland (ibid., fig. 74) but these again may have derived from metalwork originals.

The finely detailed surface enrichment and the play of light and shade it produces on this stone can be paralleled in a generalized way throughout the Celtic west, but it is difficult to localize the possible influences on Irton. The place-name ('settlement of the Irish') may be significant here, but one could equally see all the geometric ornament as manuscript-derived. There are other features on the cross which could indicate contact with a literate centre. In the centre of the cross-head on the west face, the cruciform arrangement of the five bosses could signify the five wounds of Christ, especially since the cross-head at Lancaster shows such a circle in the centre of a figure, probably of Christ. The same cross-head has a plain boss on the opposite face, as here at Irton (Collingwood 1927a, 128). Pelleted bosses are not uncommon on Anglo-Saxon crosses, as at Workington (no. 7), Heysham, Lancashire (Collingwood 1927a, fig. 128), or Northallerton, Yorkshire, where they form a St Andrew's cross (ibid., fig. 116, 4); but the bosses on face A at Irton look very deliberately placed.

It is unfortunate that nothing survives of the inscription. Haigh claimed he could read the beginning of the inscription as 'pray for' and even completed 'pray for Godemund's soul' (Haigh 1869–70, 40), but Romilly Allen noted in a letter to Stephens in 1884 that although a panel had been left blank, this was 'unornamented and perfectly smooth and there is absolutely no trace of letters of any kind' (Stephens 1884, 200). This view is shared by later commentators (see Page 1969, 33) and today, even in the best light, there are no individual letters to be seen. One can see, however, two marking-out lines which would have framed the three lines of script and some vestiges of vertical strokes. If one compares the marking-out lines at Bewcastle 1 and Beckermet St Bridget 1, which also survive more clearly than the script, then it is not unreasonable to assume that the panel once carried an inscription, and this could imply an associated literate community (see Introduction, p. 19).

First half of ninth century

Lysons and Lysons 1816, cci; Jefferson 1842, 207, pl. 207; Mannix and Whellan 1847, 339; Whellan 1860, 8, 397; Stephens 1866–7, 469; Stephens 1884a, 200; Haigh 1879, 217, fig.; Knowles 1878, 96; Knowles 1880. 142; Stephens 1884a, 142; Allen 1885, 354; Viëtor 1895, 16; Calverley 1899a, 206–7, 301, pl. 206; Chadwick 1901, 85; Collingwood 1901a, 258, 278, pl. 258; Collingwood 1902a, 273; Kermode 1907, 19; Collingwood 1911b, 465, 467; Prior and Gardner 1912, 118; Collingwood 1912b, 158; Collingwood 1915a, 203; Collingwood 1918, 42, 46, fig. 24; Brøndsted 1920, 182; Scott 1920, 123–4, frontis.; Collingwood 1923c, 264; Brøndsted 1924, 64; Parker 1926, 155, pl. 155; Collingwood 1926a, 58; Collingwood 1927a, 83, 111, 119, fig. 100; Clapham 1930, 66, pl. 17; Collingwood 1932a, 53; Collingwood 1932b, 85–6; Brown 1937, 269, pl. XCV; Kendrick 1938, 201–2, 206, pl. XXII; Kendrick 1941b, 9; Kendrick 1949, 63; Fair 1950, 93; MacDermott 1955, 92; Marquardt 1961, 55; Hill 1966, 137; Pevsner 1967, 143; Page 1969, 33; Adcock 1974, i, 242–5, 254–6, ii, pls. 110–12; Bailey 1974a, I, 20, 23–4, 83, 105 II, 159, pls.; Bailey 1980, 21, 81, 148, 264, pl. 1; O'Sullivan 1980, 274, 283, 307; Cramp 1984, 15, 198; Bailey forthcoming a