Ex situ, built in externally over the entrance to the south porch

First recorded (in present location) in drawing by Buckler of 1821

St Matthew

Heavily weathered

The scene consists of the crucifixion with the Virgin and St John. The cross is composed of three stones, one forming the vertical limb and the others the horizontal limbs. The high-relief, frontally-placed figure of Christ has the head, with a cruciform nimbus, resting on its right shoulder. The face is bearded but the remaining features are lost. The arms curve out and down, and the well-modelled hands, palm outwards, are bent sharply upwards. The figure is naked to the waist, incised lines indicate the musculature of the torso, and he wears a knee-length garment which is slightly longer behind. A pair of parallel, horizontal incised lines indicate its upper edge. The legs are bent to the left, and the feet are out-turned. To the right, on a separate stone with its upper edge butting onto the lower edge of the horizontal arm of the cross, is the outward-facing nimbed figure of the Virgin. The figure wears a full-length robe. Over this is a cloak joined on the left shoulder. There is a cloth over the head. The figure's left arm is raised close to the body, and the right arm is held across the chest. In the corresponding position to the left is the frontally-placed, nimbed figure of St John. The figure wears a full-length robe. Over this is a cloak draped over the left arm which holds a book against the body. The right arm is held across the waist.

The piece must be ex situ, as it is built into a thirteenth-century porch. In resetting the piece, the figures of the Virgin and St John have clearly been reversed; they were originally intended to face inwards towards the figure of the crucified Christ. The arms of the cross have also been reversed. The arms of Christ were originally intended to slope upwards, and the hands hang down from the wrists as at Breamore 1, Hampshire (Ill. 428).

Tenth to eleventh century

( --- ) 1886, 14 - 15, pl. B; ( --- ) 1899, 50 - 2, pl. on 50; Gatty 1900, 73; Keyser 1904, liii; Prior and Gardner 1912, 137; Rice 1947, 14; Kendrick 1949, 47; Gardner 1951, 45; Rice 1952, 98 - 9, pl. 11a; Fisher 1959, 89; Rice 1960, 198, 200, pl. IIIB; Quirk 1961, 29; Fisher 1962, 231, 393, pl. 114; MacKay 1963, 88 - 9, pls. V.3, VII.13; Taylor and Taylor 1965 - 78, i, 367, 372, iii, 1056; Taylor and Taylor 1966, 6, 13, 22; Gem 1973, ii, 504; Sherwood and Pevsner 1974, 348, 681; Coatsworth 1979, i, 281, 292, 296 - 9; ii, 34 - 5, pls. 151 - 3; Rodwell and Rouse 1984, 315, 318, fig. 8, pl. XLIb; Tweddle 1986b, i, 73 - 4, 189 - 208, ii, 396 - 8, iii, pl. 55b; Coatsworth 1988, 173 - 5, 190, pl. IIIa; Raw 1990, 210 - 11