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Object type: Part of cross-shaft, in two pieces
Measurements:
a (upper): H. 50.5 cm (19.75 in); W. 35 cm (13.75 in); D. Built in
b (lower): H. 42 cm (16.5 in); W. 39 > 38 cm (15.25 > 15 in); D. Built in
Stone type: Coarse-grained, micaceous yellow sandstone (Carboniferous)
Plate numbers in printed volume: 26, 28
Corpus volume reference: Vol 2 p. 51-52
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The two fragments form non-adjacent parts of a cross-shaft of slab-like proportions. It is likely that fragment b is set upside down in its present position, and is described below (and shown in Ill. 28) as though it were reversed. Faces B and D apparently carried single-branch spiral-scroll whilst face C was described as '. . . covered in spirals . . .' (Calverley 1891c, 233).
A (broad): At the top of fragment a there are traces of a horizontal border which may have marked the upper limit of the shaft-panel. Below is spiral-scroll ornament with a three-lobed leaf and interspersed pellets, flanked to the right by a two-strand twist enclosing pellets. The spiral-scroll links to a single-branch scroll running centrally down the rest of the fragment, flanked by a two-strand twist enclosing pellets. This same twist continues on fragment b, but the scroll here gives way to a Maltese cross with the remains of an orans figure below. On both fragments this ornament is bordered by roll mouldings.
B–D: Built in.
Work of the spiral-scroll school (see pp. 33–8). The fashion for single branches of scroll, set between strips of twist ornament, is one found elsewhere in the school (Plumbland 1, St Bees 4, Unknown Provenance 1), but this particular version is best paralleled on Dearham 2, where it is also associated with anthropomorphic themes. Since Aspatria 2 and Dearham 2 are the only two carvings in this group to use figural ornament, it is possible that both are work of the same hand.
The interpretation of the figure on fragment b as an orans is more plausible than previous suggestions that the carving represented a beast or a man equipped with a sword or phallus. The combination of orans and cross can be paralleled in Welsh sculpture and in Merovingian art (Nash-Williams 1950, no. 56; Salin 1959, fig. 112).
