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Object type: Part of grave-cover
Measurements: L. 130 cm (51.2 in) W. 17 > 13 cm (6.7 > 5.1 in) D. Built in
Stone type: [Ancaster Freestone, Upper Lincolnshire Limestone, Inferior Oolite Group]
Plate numbers in printed volume: Fig. 9; Ills. 15–16
Corpus volume reference: Vol 5 p. 100
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This is probably a section from a variant of the mid-Kesteven type of grave-cover. The stone has been carefully cut in half, longitudinally, and what is now visible is the upper part of one of the two decorated side panels (see Fig. 9).
B (long): The broader end probably represents the original termination of the monument; the present narrower end clearly shows that the stone has been broken at this point. The surviving original end of the visible face, which in most other mid-Kesteven covers is occupied by a transverse panel of interlace, is here occupied by a simple, unornamented, equal-armed cross (type A1), outlined with a simple incised line. The remainder of the face is decorated with a run of interlace in low relief, set beneath a cable-moulded border. The interlace begins with a free strand forming an unpinned loop and then continues in a series of simple pattern E knots. There is a 'bull's head' (Fig. 11) in the centre of the run, from whose horns the interlace develops. The strands are further decorated with double incised medial lines (except in the horns of the bull's head where there is only a single incised line).
This monument has a stone type, a style of interlace and the characteristic 'bull's head' motif which strongly suggest that it is a member of the mid-Kesteven group of covers (Chapter V). Although the monument retains the characteristic layout of the mid-Kesteven group, however, the apparent replacement of the transverse terminal panel by a simple cross is unique within the group. It is just possible that Barrowby 1 is an upright shaft produced by the same quarry centre as the mid-Kesteven cover group; using the motifs characteristic of that group in an otherwise unparalleled way on an upright shaft. However there are no other certain examples of shafts decorated in this way, whereas the monument is quite easily placed within the mid-Kesteven cover group, admitting that it has an unorthodox decoration on its terminal side-panel. Regardless of function, the surviving decoration allows the monument to be dated to between the mid tenth century and the early eleventh.
