City and County Museum, Lincoln (accession number 54.80). Removed from the redundant church of St Andrew at Miningsby at its demolition in 1980.

First recorded in 1851 as 'carved slab' in the 'Catalogue of the Drawings of Churches &c. contained in the large Portfolio' in the library of the Lincolnshire Architectural Society ((—) 1850–1b, lxxviii), drawing not traced. It was reused as a threshold stone in the church, but taken up after 1864 ((—) 1864a, 310) and probably during the substantial restoration of the church by James Fowler of Louth in 1878 (Pevsner and Harris 1964, 317), and placed loose in the chancel. A late nineteenth-century drawing of the cover, standing loose in the church together with Miningsby 2 but inaccurate in its detail, occurs in the Ross manuscripts (LCL, Ross MSS vol. 8 (Horncastle, Bolingbroke, Skirbeck), p. 105).

St Andrew

Very abraded in localised patterns and especially along its left-hand side from its reuse as a threshold; only the complete (head) end is relatively undamaged

An almost complete flat rectangular grave-cover of Lindsey type with no measurable taper decorated in low relief and only on the upper surface.

A (top): The border is defined by a twin cable moulding in a herringbone pattern and the central panel is occupied by three interconnecting lines of simple pattern F interlace, which produce a repetitive figure-of-eight pattern in five surviving rows. The figure-of-eight units measure 18 × 11.5 cm (7 × 4.5 in). The layout and spacing of the lines and rows is entirely regular, but towards the complete end the pattern terminates against a plain reserved area scalloped by the cross-joined strands. Despite its abraded surface, the decoration stands sharply as a squared U section against the flat cut-away background.

B and D (long): Undecorated, with a battered profile.

C (end): Undecorated.

E (end): Cut for reuse as threshold.

F (bottom): Roughly dressed.

This is one of the interlace covers of Lindsey type discussed in Chapter V. It is the most complete of the sub-group (a) distinguished by their double cable or herringbone border (Table 6). Since it was cut for the same reuse as the most complete example of sub-group (b) at Cammeringham (Ill. 81), its surviving length is similar: on both covers five rows of interlace remain. If, as assumed by Stocker's (1986a, fig. 53) reconstructions of the examples from Lincoln St Mark (nos. 3 and 4, Ills. 239, 241), only completion of the pattern and the border have been removed, then the Miningsby cover would have been about 120–130cm (48–51 in) in original length. For each additional row of the pattern about 20cm (7.75 in) would be added. Its width closely matches that of Lincoln St Mark 4 and probably Laceby 1 in its sub-group and Cammeringham 1, Lincoln St Mark 3 and Theddlethorpe St Helen 1 in sub-group (b). The creation of a reserved area at the end of the pattern, if a deliberate decorative device, finds a direct analogy in Lincoln St Mark 4 (Ill. 241) except for the absence of any sign of comparable incised decoration at Miningsby. Since the norm on these covers is for the herringbone to point to the foot end, this reserved area lay at the head of both covers. In quality of stone, regularity of layout and fineness of finish, this cover is typical of the sub-group.

The drawing in the Ross manuscript (Ill. 303) is inaccurate in showing only four rather than five rows of figure-of-eight pattern. In other respects, however, including the way the complete end of the pattern is finished and the directions of the double-cabled border, it is well-observed.

Later tenth or early eleventh century

(—) 1850–1b, lxxviii; (—) 1864a, 310; Maughan 1892–3, 157; Peacock 1892–3, 124; Penny 1894–5b, 225–8, fig. 1; Fowler 1896, 3; Walter 1904, 142–3; Davies 1914–15, 168–9; Davies 1915, 52; Cox 1924, 33; Davies 1926, 17; Pevsner and Harris 1964, 317; Everson 1980, 76; Stocker 1986a, 61; Pevsner et al. 1989, 564; Stocker with Everson 1990, 89