North aisle, inside

First recorded in 1907 at east end of north aisle (Collingwood 1907, 371)

St Andrew

Complete but fairly worn

The monument is a monolith, with a billet-head (G.I., fig. 3, 4), the lateral arms approximating to B11, the upper being a form of hammer-head. On face B, the billet carries traces of dark red pigment. The rectangular-sectioned shaft is encircled half-way up by a band of three-strand plain plait using broad, flat strands and executed in stopped-plait technique. Below this it is dressed but undecorated.

A (broad): The cross-head has a moulding extended from the shaft which runs round the irregular perimeter. In the centre is a round domed boss encircled by a ring with four leaf-shaped extensions which may be formalized serpents' heads viewed from above. The point is split and the stalk below the swelling sides is flanked by a pair of single pellets. The cross-arms are filled by a flat strand which forms a Stafford Knot terminal in each limb.

Above the band of plain plait is a single panel, flanked by a flat edge moulding and containing a disordered pair of ring-knots. The lower one has two concentric free rings through which pass angular return loops, lacking proportion, which extend to an upper ring. Its loops are crammed into the corners of the panel, which has no upper transverse moulding, but is divided from the head by a single incised line.

B (narrow): The end of the horizontal arm of the cross-head is rectangular; within a flat perimeter moulding is a ring-knot, with two concentric free rings.

The edge moulding of the decorated upper part of the shaft is flat and flanks a single panel containing a leafless spiral scroll whose stem is hooked in the bottom right-hand corner. The smaller scrolls, which act as fillers above and below, have extended tendrils. The top of the panel is marked only by an incised line.

C (broad): The perimeter moulding of the cross-head is, as on the other faces, an extension of the shaft's. The decorative scheme broadly repeats that of face A. The central circular boss is sliced off. The animal-head pendant is most pronounced below the boss. There is no ring and no extensions at the sides of the boss. Above it is a random filler and, to its right, a triskele motif. The arms are filled by crude interlace with pattern E terminals in each arm; there has been an attempt to carve median incisions onto the broad, flat strands.

Above the raised band of plain plait on the shaft, the flat edge moulding flanks a panel of dense eight-strand plain plait, using broad, flat strands and executed in a technique reminiscent of stopped-plait. The strands are interspersed interspersed with pellets, formed where their interstices have not been cut away. The top of the panel is marked only by a horizontal incision.

D (narrow): The end of the horizontal arm has a flat rectangular moulding framing a scrolled swastica motif, the ends of its arms branching into two or three coiled terminals.

The moulding on the corner of the shaft is flat and plain and flanks a panel of interlace, using broad, flat strands. There is a unit of simple pattern F at the top with alternate-joined terminals, separated by a long glide from a panel of irregular eight-strand plain plait below. The top of the panel is marked by an incised line. Below the band of plain plait is an indecipherable, incised, freehand motif.

This cross is unlike any of the others at Middleton. Its billet head, like one at Kirklevington, North Riding (Collingwood 1907, 351, figs. c–d on 350), and another at Kirkdale (Ill. 546), is quite rare, though there are some Irish parallels [2]. It is a way of stabilising the cross-head. The shaft is Anglian in its stylistic origins (like the free arm head) and is a round-shaft derivative. Here the section is rectangular throughout but the uncarved lower half and the bending ring are close in conception to pieces at Leek (Staffordshire) and Beckermet, Cumberland (Bailey and Cramp 1988, ill. 41) (see Chap. 8).

The carving of the double ring-knot above the raised band on face A looks very much like a poor copy of the round-shaft derivative at Gilling West, near Richmond, North Riding (Collingwood 1907, 322, figs. d–e on 323) which has been compared with Cumbrian examples. The attempt at staggered interlace on face C, volute extensions, and the split-jawed, pellet-eyed heads of the cross faces are poorer versions of Hovingham 1 (Ills. 486–9; Collingwood 1929a, 111–12). Hence the Middleton piece is very eclectic. Even the plant-scroll derives from Anglian sources, its root and minor fronds harking back well before the Scandinavian phase. A similar plant-scroll revival is found at Brompton, North Riding (Collingwood 1907, fig. i on 301) on a Viking-age shaft. The sculptor was therefore looking not only to local models but up to the northern part of the Riding.

Tenth century

Collingwood 1906–7, 128, 130, fig. 21; Collingwood 1907, 371, figs. a–b on 370; Collingwood 1912a, 126; Collingwood 1927, 82, 144–5, fig. 161; Morris 1931, 264; Brown 1937, 275–6, pl. CIV; Kendrick 1941, 17; Mee 1941a, 161, pl.; Kendrick 1949, 76; Binns 1956, 15–16, figs. 1–2; Lang 1973, 23–5, pl. IV; Lang 1978c, 13, pl. Ia; 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. I am grateful to Liam de Paor for this information.