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Object type: Architectural fragment(?) [1]
Measurements: H. 20 cm (7.9 in); W. 33 cm (13 in); D. 17 cm (6.75 in)
Stone type: Coarse-grained (with grains up to 0.75 mm), non-micaceous, pale yellow (2.5Y 8/4) sandstone; see no. 2.
Plate numbers in printed volume: 474-477
Corpus volume reference: Vol 3 p. 142
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Only one face now carries ornament.
No border mouldings survive. In the centre is a large free ring, intersected symmetrically by four other rings of equal size, whose arcs meet cross-wise in the centre. The spandrels are filled by triangles, each with a gouged out triangular centre. The segments of the four other rings beyond the area intersected by the central one were each apparently filled by a symmetrical acanthus-like spray. The one complete example has a pear-shaped, hollowed leaf in the centre, flanked by two broad crescentine 'leaves' which are in turn flanked by arched, hollowed, sub-triangular elements, each with a volute terminal.
On the left-hand edge, outside the pattern, are the remains of curving strands which leave little free space.
This is a rare piece whose function is uncertain. It may have been part of a closure slab, or perhaps a composite shrine. The close connections between metalwork motifs and this carving are striking. J. J. Winterbotham's note (Winterbotham 1982) cites very convincing parallels in local ninth-century metalwork from Whitby and Little Howe, North Riding, and, indeed, the book mounts from Whitby, the mother-house of Hackness, provide the closest analogue for this stone's pattern (Wilson 1964, 192–93, nos. 105–7, pls. xxxviii, xxxix). On the basis of this close metalwork analogue, an eighth-century date can be ascribed to this piece.
