Formerly on the sill of west window of south porch, not now locatable

First recorded in 1895 (Robertson 1895)

St Catherine

Heavily broken, but surviving carving only slightly worn

The shaft is square in section, tapers, and is roughly broken above and below.

A: There is a broad, plain, raised border along the upper, left-hand, and right-hand edges. The face is decorated with one unit and part of a second of half pattern C interlace. Two of the thick strands terminate in the upper corners of the face.

B: The borders resemble those on face A. Within is a panel containing half pattern A interlace.

C: There is a border to left and right, enclosing an interlace too worn to be identified.

D: There is a border to left and right enclosing the remains of an interlace, apparently half pattern C.

E (top): There is a deep drilled dowel hole in the centre of the upper end.

The fragment formed part of a square cross-shaft built in sections. Presumably the dowel hole in the upper end facilitated the joining of the pieces. The very small size of this section suggests that it came from a position towards the top of a large shaft, or derived from a smaller cross, perhaps of memorial function. The restricted repertoire of decoration makes dating difficult, but the use of half patterns in the interlace is rare, being paralleled elsewhere in the region only at Reculver 1e (Ills. 119–20), which can be dated to the early ninth century. The well worked-out nature of the interlace patterns also point to an early date for the piece.

Ninth century

Robertson 1895, 126, fig. facing; Cox and Johnston 1935, 247 - 8; Tweddle 1983b, 36 - 7, pl. XI; Tweddle 1986b, i, 95, 161 - 2, ii, 432 - 3, iii, pl. 72b - 73