This appears to be the foot end of a flat grave-cover with decoration in low relief. The stone has been trimmed to make a near square block and is missing at least two-thirds of its original length and a fraction of its right hand side.

A (broad): The decoration consists of a broad, flat, central shaft, which presumably terminated in a cross, flanked by two zones of interlace. The surviving borders down both sides and across the base are of square section and, although that on the right hand side seems to have been trimmed, that on the left hand side appears intact, so the square section is original. The interlace strands themselves are of square section with large interstices. They form two runs of four-strand plait. The two zones, however, are not exactly the same, as that to the right has fewer intersections, and it is unclear whether this is merely inaccurate laying out or arises because the patterns were divergent in the upper part of the stone.

Because the stone has been trimmed, and because the backside is not visible, it is just possible that this is not a grave-cover but a late, flat, shaft, like that at Stainby (Ill. 335–8). However, the proportions of the stone suggest that this is more likely to be a fragment from a grave-cover belonging to the same 'Fenland' group as Lincoln Cathedral 1 (Ill. 230), and Whaplode 1 and 3 (Ills. 385, 387) (see Chapter V and Table 5). Market Deeping 2, like the examples from Lincoln and Whaplode, is cut from a similar gritty ragstone from quarries in the Barnack/Clipsham area, and all have similar border mouldings and similar interlace cutting. These Lincolnshire monuments are members of a much larger group from these quarries which are distributed right around the Fenland margin (Fig. 13). These covers were distributed by waterway, and Market Deeping, right beside the Welland, would be within easy reach of the production sites. This group of monuments is dated here to the period between the early eleventh century and the Conquest.