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Object type: Horizontal cross-arm [1]
Measurements: H. 22.75 cm (9 in); W. 25 cm (9.75 in); D. 10.2 cm (4 in)
Stone type: Micaceous red sandstone
Plate numbers in printed volume: 567, 570
Corpus volume reference: Vol 2 p. 153-154
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The arm appears to be type A9.
A (broad): On the left, towards the centre of the cross-head, the surface is smoothly dressed and enclosed by a flat-band moulding. There are traces of the ends of three lines of an inscription, the middle one being less rubbed away than the others. This is in Anglo-Saxon capitals; the others appear to have been in Insular majuscules. It reads:
[..]
[NIM]A
[..]
On the right towards the end of the arm, and divided from the inscription by a flat-band moulding, is a fragment of interlace with mortar adhering between the strands. The traces are too fragmentary to reconstruct, but what survives suggests that it might have resembled the pattern on face C.
B (end): Plain.
C (broad): The undamaged section of the arm towards the centre of the head is smoothly dressed and is framed at the top and bottom by a flat-band moulding. The end of the arm carries a panel of interlace, consisting of two registers separated by a pair of two-strand twists. The upper is an irregular form of pattern B with cross-joined surrounding strands; the lower is a unit of pattern A with cross-joined terminals.
D (narrow): Broken off.
The division of a cross-arm into panels of ornament is rare in English monuments, although it occurs at Norham, Northumberland (Cramp 1984, pl. 206, 1186) and in Scotland both with abstract ornament at Jedburgh, Roxburghshire (Cramp 1983a, fig. 115) or with figure panels as at Hoddom, Dumfriesshire (Collingwood 1927a, fig. 51). This arm, however, is unique in its combination of abstract ornament and inscription. This inscription, despite the fact that its worn condition makes judgement difficult, would not have been as dominant as those on the Carlisle heads (nos. 1 and 2); but it is more carefully planned than those on the heads from Whitby (Okasha 1971, 123–30, figs. 123–30).
The head shape and the form of the interlace fit well into the Cumbrian context (cf. Addingham 2 and Carlisle 2) and this was obviously part of an impressive Anglian monument. Inscriptions point to a literate community associated with the site and it is possible that this derived from a monastic site.
