Volume 4: South-East England

Select a site alphabetically from the choices shown in the box below. Alternatively, browse sculptural examples using the Forward/Back buttons.

Chapters for this volume, along with copies of original in-text images, are available here.

Current Display: Lavendon 01, Buckinghamshire Forward button Back button
Overview
Present Location
Built into the south-east quoin of the tower, below the level of the second storey window, abutting no. 2
Evidence for Discovery
First recorded in Taylor and Taylor 1965-78
Church Dedication
St Michael
Present Condition
Weathered
Description
Only face A is visible. It is approximately square and has a plain, low-relief border above and below. It is roughly broken to the left and right. The face is decorated with a pair of closed-circuit loops spanning the full width of the face. Each is composed of a broad, low relief strand with a median-incised line.
Discussion
Without closer examination the function of this piece remains entirely uncertain. Its overall size, and the nature of decoration, are consistent with an interpretation of the piece as part of a square cross-shaft. The use of closed-circuit patterns is consistent with a late pre-Conquest date (Collingwood 1927, 65, 68).
Date
Tenth to eleventh century
References
Taylor and Taylor 1965 - 78, i, 376; Tweddle 1986b, i, 112, 247 - 8, ii, 402, iii, pl. 57b
D.T.
Endnotes

Forward button Back button
mouseover