Select a site alphabetically from the choices shown in the box below. Alternatively, browse sculptural examples using the Forward/Back buttons.
Chapters for this volume, along with copies of original in-text images, are available here.
Object type: Cross-shaft and part of -head, in two joining pieces
Measurements: H. 156 cm (61.5 in); W. 45 > 38 cm (17.75 > 15 in); D. 20.5 > 18.5 cm (8 > 7.5 in)
Stone type: Medium-grained red sandstone (St Bees sandstone)
Plate numbers in printed volume: 31 - 4
Corpus volume reference: Vol 2 p. 50-51
(There may be more views or larger images available for this item. Click on the thumbnail image to view.)
Fragmentary remains of circle-head, type 3, together with complete slab-like shaft. All shaft panels are bordered laterally by a roll moulding. The stone has not been fully squared and there is a marked depression in the upper part of the shaft at the junction of faces A and B.
A (broad): (i) At the top are the remains of a curved panel from the cross-head circle, apparently decorated with plait. On the shaft below are two panels, divided by a flat-band border, the smaller one occupying the lower fifth of the shaft. (ii) The upper part of the large panel is filled by tight irregular interlace formed with strands carrying a median-incised line; some lines terminate in curled tendrils. This is linked below to a form of ring-knot using four concentric circles, one of them formed by pellets. (iii) In the worn narrow panel at the bottom of the shaft is a kneeling beast with backward-turned head, its contoured body enmeshed in strands extending from the mouth and back of the head.
B (narrow): A single shaft panel decorated with a changing pattern consisting of (starting at the top): two registers of bifurcating pattern (Fig. 6c); one register of ring-twist; one register of bifurcating pattern; one register of ring-twist; and three registers of bifurcating pattern. The outside curves of the strands carry two or three parallel narrow nicks.
C (broad): (i) At the top the curved segment of the cross-head circle, marked off by a plain flat-band border, carries traces of a plait. (ii) In the single panel on the shaft are seven registers of interlace: complete pattern A, turned and irregularly set out, using median-incised strands.
D (narrow): A single shaft panel decorated with interlace: five registers of spiralled half pattern A; at the bottom, the terminal register shows an attempt to combine the latter pattern with a form of ring-knot, apparently using bifurcating strands.
There are sufficient remains of the cross-head to assign this shaft to the circle-head group (Introduction, pp. 31–2). Typical of the Cumbrian version of the circle-head is the use of plait on the circle, whilst the organization of the shaft, with a long panel placed over a narrow one, is one found elsewhere in the area on circle-heads at Dearham (no. 1) and Muncaster (no. 1).
The interlace repertoire on the two broad faces links this carving to two Lancashire crosses at Lancaster and Melling (Collingwood 1927a, figs. 171, 179). Firstly, all three shafts use a ring-knot with multiple rings, one of which is formed by pellets, and place this knot in a similar position at the bottom of a panel containing other kinds of ornament. Secondly, the irregular interlace with loose curled tendrils at Melling is particularly close to that above the ring-knot at Aspatria. Finally, the pattern on face C of Aspatria is one also employed at Lancaster and only found elsewhere in England on a (circle-head?) shaft at Bromfield (no. 2) and on the Aspatria hogback (no. 6). It is possible that the Aspatria shaft is the work of the same hand as produced the carvings at Melling and Lancaster.
The decoration on face B provides a (unique?) example of this type of bifurcating interlace on an English carving (Fig. 6c). It is a form, however, which was exploited in the Viking period on Man (Kermode 1907, nos. 74, 83, 84, 94) and presumably this Aspatria usage reflects the popularity of the motif on the island. The ultimate source of this kind of interlace motif probably lies in Scandinavia (Wilson and Klindt-Jensen 1980, fig. 9).
