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Chapters for this volume, along with copies of original in-text images, are available here.
Object type: Part of slab, in two pieces
Measurements:
a (upper): H. 20.5 cm (8 in); W. 22.5 cm (8.75 in); D. Built in
b (lower): H. 47 cm (18.5 in); W. 26.5 cm (10.5 in); D. Built in
Stone type: Medium-grained, micaceous grey sandstone (Carboniferous)
Plate numbers in printed volume: 38
Corpus volume reference: Vol 2 p. 52-53
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The two fragments are probably from the same slab, though the reconstruction by Collingwood (1927a, fig. 18) is unacceptable since it misrepresents the ornament on fragment a. Both fragments are decorated with incised ornament bordered by a roll moulding; three sides of this border remain on fragment b, whilst fragment a preserves a section of edge moulding and an internal panel division marked by an incised line.
A (top): At the top of fragment b is an incised linear equal-armed cross with barred terminals set in a shield-like frame. Immediately below is a swastika set over a circle. Three complete, and one partially surviving, semi-circles border the right frame and two others survive on the left side. At the centre of fragment a is a large circle with a closed semi-circle above it. There are two semi-circles abutting the frame on the left and further incised lines indicate that there was yet more decoration below the panel division.
The decoration of this stone is closely paralleled across the Solway at Craignarget, Wigtownshire (Ill. 673) (Collingwood 1927a, fig. 18), where another slab shares the otherwise unique combination of incised swastika, circles, crosslets set in curved frames, and borders marked by semi-circles. The popularity of incised crosslets in Viking-period sculpture around the Solway has already been noted (above, p. 45) and a similar enthusiasm for the swastika motif is found in the same region in the tenth and eleventh centuries (Anderson 1929–30, 295; Stevenson 1958–9, fig. 6, pl. XI (3)). A Viking-period dating for both the Aspatria and Craignarget slabs is therefore likely (Collingwood 1922–3, 229–30; Stevenson 1958–9, 50; Bailey 1974a, I, 255).
Ó hÉailidhe (1957) has drawn attention, however, to parallels between the Aspatria and Craignarget slabs and a group of sculptures from the Dublin area and, by implication, places the Solway slabs in the same early missionary period as he assigns to the Irish carvings. Whilst it is true that there are good analogues for the Dublin ornamental repertoire among Merovingian sculptures (Lionard 1961, 143–4) the decorative system of the Irish stones could equally represent degenerate renderings of ring-crosses and interlace and need not imply that they are of early date (Stevenson 1958–9, 50–1). In any case, the one motif which is common to the Irish and Solway carvings – the semi-circle border – is not only found in both Anglian and Viking-period sculpture in Yorkshire (Collingwood 1915a, 153; Collingwood 1927a, fig. 112) but is widespread in other media in both Insular and Scandinavian contexts both before and during the Viking period (e.g. Wilson 1964, pl. 1a; Bakka 1963, fig. 67; Cinthio 1947, 115, ff.; Lindqvist 1941–2, i, fig. 211; Wilson and Klindt-Jensen 1980, pl. XXII (a, g)). No early dating of the Aspatria slab can therefore be deduced from the use of this particular motif.
