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Object type: Part of cross-shaft in two pieces, now reunited
Measurements:
H. 76 cm (30 in); W. 33 > 26 cm (13 > 10.25 in); D. 15 > 12 cm (6 > 4.75 in)
Upper collar: H. 15.2 cm (6 in); W. 34.5 cm (13.5 in); D. 19 cm (7.5 in)
Lower collar: H. 12 cm (4.75 in); W. 33 cm (13 in); D. 20 cm (7.75 in)
Stone type: Medium-grained, micaceous red sandstone (St Bees sandstone)
Plate numbers in printed volume: 173 - 6
Corpus volume reference: Vol 2 p. 80-81
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Squarish shaft, type e, with four remaining panels of ornament, two of them on the raised collars. The panels on the collars and the ones between them are bordered by a flat-band moulding. All interlace on the cross is formed by median-incised strands.
A (broad): (i) At the top is a form of ring-knot, probably with two free rings. (ii) On the upper collar there is worn relief ornament composed of interlace and a crouching ribbon animal with contoured body and backward-thrown head. (iii) Below is interlace consisting of two registers of complete turned pattern A; at the central crossing point the strand splits along the median-incised line to interlace separately. (iv) On the lower collar the remains of a contoured ribbon animal are visible in the top left corner; the panel also contained interlace of a now unidentifiable type.
B (narrow): (i) The upper panel is decorated with two registers of half pattern A whilst the upper collar (ii) has a ring-knot with a single free ring. (iii) The panel below is also decorated with two registers of half pattern A. (iv) Calverley (1899a, fig. facing 84) records a now lost fragment of the lower collar as carrying a derived form of ring-chain (G.I., fig. 26 cv).
C (broad): The ornament on the two collars (ii) and (iv) is now too worn for certain identification though there are traces of a contoured ribbon beast on the upper panel. The two other panels are both decorated with interlace: the upper (i) carries one register of complete turned A (though the form of the terminal immediately above the collar is now unclear), whilst the lower panel (iii), now obscured by mortar, is decorated with a bungled rendering of two registers of complete turned A.
D (narrow): In the upper panel (i) is a derived form of ring-chain (G.I., fig. 26cv). Some form of circular plaitwork, no longer identifiable, occupied the upper collar (ii), whilst the two panels below (iii–iv) both contained a derived form of ring-chain.
This shaft is closely related to two circle-head crosses in the immediate area, one from Aspatria (no. 1), the other from Rockcliffe. With Rockcliffe it shares the double collar with ribbon animals decorating the broad faces of the offsets. Bromfield and Rockcliffe also employ identical forms of ring-chain derivative on the narrow faces. With Aspatria it shares a rare and ungainly form of interlace pattern, complete turned pattern A. All three stones could be the work of the same hand. Certainly these links would indicate that Bromfield, like Aspatria and Rockcliffe, carried a circle head.
Contoured ribbon animals bound in interlace are a familiar theme in Jellinge art and the splitting of bands at crossings is also a popular feature in art of the Viking period in various media. A tenth-century date is further indicated by the use of a Borre-derived ring-chain motif.
