The Corpus: Workington 08

Volume 2: Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire-North-of-the-Sands

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Current Display: Workington 08, Cumberland

Overview

Object type: Architectural fragment [1]

Measurements: (after Mason and Valentine 1928) H. 12.5 cm (5 in); W. 15 cm (6 in); D. 36.5 cm (14.5 in)

Stone type: (after Mason and Valentine 1928, 59) 'red sandstone'

Plate numbers in printed volume: 600 - 1

Corpus volume reference: Vol 2 p. 157

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Present Location

Lost

Evidence for Discovery

Found in Curwen vault beneath church whilst driving tunnel into it in 1926 (Mason and Valentine 1928, 59–60)

Church Dedication

St Michael

Present Condition

Unknown

Description

The stone was described as 'cigar shaped' at one end and merging into four flat sides (Mason and Valentine 1928, 59).

A: Outlined by a single roll moulding which had been marked out with a fine punch. There is a crescent-shaped mark in the upper left corner, and an inscription in Anglo-Saxon capitals centrally placed on the face. This reads:

OSI[..I]D

Discussion

Mason and Valentine considered that this piece might have been a headstone which could have been driven into the ground using the tapered end. In view of the stone discovered in excavations in 1973 at Jarrow monastic site (Cramp 1984, 114, pl. 97, 522) which had clearly been built into a wall it seems more reasonable to see this as also designed to be built into a structure. Like the Jarrow stone it bears a single personal name, although whether male or female is impossible to determine. Mason and Valentine (1928, 60) reconstructed the inscription as OSITHGID but Okasha is more circumspect. I have followed her reading (Okasha 1971, 129).

Date

Possibly eighth to ninth century

References

Mason and Valentine 1928, 59–60 and pl. facing 62; Curwen 1936, 207; Okasha 1971, 129; Bailey 1974a, I, 20, 23, 29, II, 258, pl.; O'Sullivan 1980, 281

Endnotes

1. The Historica de Sancto Cuthberto records that the wandering Cuthbert community embarked for Ireland from Deruntmuthe in the late ninth century (Symeon 1882b, 207). Workington is at the mouth of the Derwent and is probably the place referred to here.