Reused as the head of a niche in the north wall of the sanctuary

None; niche of which this frieze forms a part could have been inserted at any time between construction of wall c. 1180-90 and first mention of frieze in 1898 (André 1898)

St Mary

Broken; carving fairly well preserved

It is roughly broken at each end. On the only carved face, plant stems (some straight, others curved) leaning alternately to the right and left, and interlacing where they cross, emerge from a narrow border of square section along the upper edge. The lengths of the stems, and the angles they make with the border, are irregular. Each stem develops into a central leaf, with two backward-curling lateral leaves. The leaves are narrow, parallel-sided, and have rounded or slightly-pointed ends. Each leaf is of concave section. The hollows of the lateral leaves are carried down the length of the stem. The hollows on the stems leaning to the left are more prominent than on those leaning the other way.

As with Sompting nos. 2 and 3, it is evident that the border at some stage has been cut back and dressed flat. The same fine claw tooling seen on this secondary working is apparent also on the surface of the carving, and this suggests that it too has been redressed. The close correspondence in size, material and decoration between Sompting nos. 1–3 suggests that they originally formed part of the same feature; Sompting nos. 5–8 may also have come from the same source. The leaf decoration on these fragments does not match nos. 1–3 exactly, but the handling of the leaves is very similar, and again both the size and material of the pieces is the same. The total length of these pieces is 372 cm, and since no stone is complete the original length must have been much greater. Both this great length and the form of the pieces suggests that they have come from a string-course. The lack of weathering indicates that this was internal.

The foliage on the fragments is best paralleled in the borders of late Anglo-Saxon manuscript miniatures, as on fols. 17v and 126v of the Arenberg Gospels of c. 990–1000 (Temple 1976, no. 56, ill. 169). It is encountered also in late Anglo-Saxon metalwork and ivory. Taken together, these parallels suggest an eleventh-century date for the fragments. For further detailed discussion, see Chap. VII.

Eleventh century

André 1898, 17, fig. on 21; Crouch 1910, pl. 36; Gardner 1915 - 16, 69, fig. 1a, pl. VIII; Clapham 1935a, 407 - 8, pl. VIIc; Mee 1937, 343; Kendrick 1941, 135, fig. 4; Kendrick 1949, 103, pl. LXX.1; Zarnecki 1951a, 183 - 4, pl. 67C; Rice 1952, 144; Quirk 1961, 32; Fisher 1962, 381; Nairn and Pevsner 1965, 331; Taylor and Taylor 1965 - 78, ii, 562; Fisher 1970, 181; Kirby 1978, 165; Gem 1983, 128; Tweddle 1986b, i, 72 - 3, 180 - 2, ii, 459 - 60, iii, pl. 86b