Mounted against west nave wall (interior) close to south arcade respond, attached with iron staples at c. 1.5m above floor level

None. There have been several reported occasions when Bicker 1–4 may have been discovered. First, Victorian restorations were undertaken in 1858, 1876 and 1892. On the last occasion it was reported that 'many rich and interesting portions of the Norman and Early English periods were discovered, and these will be preserved as evidence of the former grandeur of this ancient church' ((—) 1893–4, lxv). It must remain unclear, however, whether the 'portions' referred to here are fragments of early sculpture. Secondly, there were archaeological excavations undertaken by the then vicar in the 1940s outside the present west wall of the nave, aimed at establishing its former extent. Worked stones were recovered, but their character was not recorded and the excavations have never been formally published (Hilary Healey, pers. comm.). The stones were, however, extant by 1943 when Canon Binnall brought them to the attention of the British Museum (Butler 1963–4, 107 n. 2) and some of them (though not nos. 1 and 3) were probably those which, until 1993, were incorporated in the layout of the vicarage garden.

St Swithun

Moderate, somewhat weathered

A fragment from the upper shaft of a small standing cross. The stone has been recut on three faces, removing much of the cross-head. Decoration only survives on the remaining broad face. The angles of the shaft are undecorated and of sub-circular section. There is a broken socket hole in the lower end.

A (broad): (i) On the shaft, the remains of a panel of interlace in low relief. The interlace is divided into (at least) two registers by a return near what was probably the centre of the shaft. The surviving unit is a grid of six-cord plait, with two free ends at the top. The strands are of rectangular section. (ii) The cross-head was also decorated with interlace, divided from that in the shaft by a roll moulding. All that survives of this interlace are the two loops which occupy the terminal of the lower cross-arm. The decoration must have been of the type surviving at several sites discussed below, although it is not possible to say whether this head had pierced interstices or was a solid disc.

The undecorated borders associate the Bicker 1 shaft with the South Kesteven cross type (Chapter V), but it should be distinguished from this group as it is cut in a stone type similar to Ancaster. The cross-head decoration evidenced at Bicker is found both in examples from the South Kesteven shaft group (e.g. Elloe Stone, Ills. 171–2) and also on monuments which, though related in concept, are from different production centres (e.g. Colsterworth 2, Lincoln St Mark 1 and Lincoln St Mary-le-Wigford 1; Ills. 92–3, 235–7, 265–6). The well laid-out interlace grid associates Bicker 1 with the shaft of similar size at North Witham (no. 1, Ills. 315–16), though this also has interlace decoration on the sides and the angles have cable moulding.

Bicker 1, then, represents a small monument which appears to belong to the group of shafts which, though related through their form and decoration to the South Kesteven shaft group, were produced at other production centres. Amongst these monuments the Bicker shaft finds its closest comparison with North Witham 1, which has similarities with the Ancaster quarry products and is considered to date from the early eleventh century.

Early eleventh century

(—) 1893–4, lxv; Butler 1963–4, 107, fig. 1, no. 7; Pevsner and Harris 1964, 456–7; Kaye 1984, 4; Pevsner et al. 1989, 143