North aisle, inside

Formerly built into tower. First recorded by L. R. A. Grove and A. Jowett in 1937 (Grove 1949); removed by G. Burnett in 1948 (Crosland and Hayes 1955, 453).

St Andrew

Complete except for one cross-arm and base of shaft; good

The cross is a monolith, the head having a ring, type 1(a) with a crest, and arms of type A11 except for the lower one, which is of type B11.

A (broad): There is a flat perimeter moulding. The lower arm projects slightly from the shaft and the shape of the head is slightly irregular. In the centre is a deeply incised circular boss surrounded by a ring. Around this an interlacing strand fills the arms. The surviving lateral arm has a Stafford Knot, and the lower arm has what is probably a bungled version of it. The upper arm has a register of simple pattern F with a bar terminal. In all but the upper arm The boss is flanked by single pellets as fillers, that in the lower arm being larger, with a sunken dot in its centre. The ring has a form of step pattern between narrow plain mouldings and is surmounted by a recessed crest with pendant triangles or chevrons incised on the side.

The flat edge moulding varies in width and continues across the top of a single panel. Within it is a frontally depicted human figure, seated and wearing conical head gear. Across the waist is a narrow belt from which hangs a horizontal knife in a sheath caught up by a thong to the belt. The feet both point to the right and the thighs are swollen. The arm-pits are prominently circular. The facial features are incised, eyes and nose in one line, the mouth a slit. Two large pellets lie above the shoulders. An irregular filler lies between the legs and an axe to the right. Along the left-hand edge stands a spear, balanced on the right by a short sword and diminutive shield with incised boss. The space about the conical hat is filled by a pellet and a triskele.

B (narrow): The end of the horizontal arm has a rectangular panel defined by a plain, flat moulding, containing a free ring and long diagonals with bar terminals, executed in broad, flat strands. The edges of the ring carry step pattern between plain mouldings. The side of the upper limb is broken off.

The flat edge moulding of the shaft extends across the top of the single panel. It contains two registers of simple pattern F interlace (Carrick Bends) with bar terminals, in broad median-incised strands, executed in stopped-plait technique. Its bends are angular. There are occasional strips or pellet fillers.

C (broad): The ornament on the cross-head is broadly similar to that on face A, though with some differences of detail. Pellets appear within the loops of the Stafford Knot in the horizontal arm, but are absent from the vertical arms. The upper arm has a bungled motif apparently trying to combine a Stafford Knot with a free ring, and that in the lower arm is based on a pair of pattern D loops.

There is a double flat moulding framing the panel, the inner strip being strictly narrower. It contains a solitary profile ribbon beast varying in thickness. The body is double-outlined and fettered by body extensions and free bands, one of which disappears beneath the contoured edge. The hind foot has three toes and the fore leg is crammed against the top of the frame, the foot also with three toes. The tail fills the base of the panel and splits, to be interlaced and locked by free rings to the leg. The head has two incised oval eyes and looped, split jaws interlocked by a fetter. Single pellets fill any free space.

D (narrow): The end of the horizontal arm has a rectangular panel defined by a plain, flat moulding, containing a free ring and long diagonals with bar terminals, executed in broad, flat strands. The edges of the ring carry step pattern between plain mouldings. The side of the upper limb is broken off.

The flat edge moulding of the shaft extends across the top of the single panel. It contains two registers of single pattern F interlace (Carrick Bends) with bar terminals, in broad median-incised strands, executed in stopped-plait technique. Its bends are angular. There are occasional strips or pellet fillers.

The monument has attracted much critical attention in recent years. Its form, with crested ring-head, derives from the Celtic west, though it has responded to local adaptation. Bailey (1978) has shown that such heads cannot be earlier than c. 920. There are other Irish reflexes in North Yorkshire which provide a context for this influence. The ornamental repertoire, however, on this cross, is thoroughly Anglo-Scandinavian (see Chap. 9).

Stylistically the interest has lain in the clumsy profile beast on face C, which differs in many details from Middleton 1's animal. Wilson has accepted (Wilson and Klindt-Jensen 1980, 23) that it does not represent the beginnings of the Jellinge style in Yorkshire. It is poor workmanship and fits in with a local tradition whose more accomplished manifestations are at Sinnington 4 (Ill. 807). There are connections with the beast-chains at York (Lang 1978b, 149–50) and even with Insular animals from an earlier stage of manuscript illumination.

Iconographically, the interpretation of the man and weapons has swung between a pagan in his grave (Binns 1956, 16–22) and a lord on his gifstol (Lang 1973, 18–20). The Christian significance of the cross above the panel should not be forgotten. The frontally depicted armed man is a motif which occurs at Levisham 1 (Ill. 631), and Kirkbymoorside 2 (Ill. 518), and may be a mark of the atelier though with some copying. Bailey has convincingly demonstrated that templates were used to construct the figure sculpture of Middleton 2, 4, and 5 (Bailey 1978, 181). It is odd that the other ornament on the cross was not constructed by the same means; it is free-hand design.

Tenth century

Grove 1949; Crosland and Hayes 1955, 454–5, pl. III A–D; Binns 1956, 16–22, figs. 3–7; Binns 1963, 43–4, pls.; Pevsner 1966, 254; Wilson and Klindt-Jensen 1966, 103–4, pl. 39b; Wilson 1967, 45; Wilson 1968, 299–300, fig. 3; Davidson 1969, 103, pl.; Foote and Wilson 1970, 300, fig. 50; Sawyer 1971, 163–6, pl. XIV [2]; Lang 1973, 16–23, pl. IV, 1, 5; Hall 1976, 15, fig. on cover; Bailey 1978, 177–8, pl. 9, fig. 9.3; Lang 1978c, 16, pl. 11a; Bailey 1980, 53, 183–4, 209–13, 231, 234, 242, 247, 253, 265, fig. 73, pls. 14–15; Graham-Campbell 1980, 159–60, no. 537, pl. 537a–b; Graham-Campbell and Kidd 1980, 70–1, pl. 30; Cramp 1982, 14–15, pl. 4; Cramp 1984, I, 29; Lang 1989, 4; Lang forthcoming

1. The following are general references to the Middleton stones: Allen and Browne 1885, 353; Frank 1888, 178; Morris 1931, 264; Mee 1941a, 161; Binns 1963, 40-3, pls.; Taylor and Taylor 1965, I, 423; Sawyer 1971, 163-6, 212; Lang 1989, 2, 3-5.
2. The plate has been printed in reverse.