Under Toft 2b in twentieth-century churchyard memorial situated to the south-east of the former church.

Found with Toft 2b during the church restorations of 1891 ((—) 1891–2a, xii). It was built into the south wall of the church (Davies 1914–15, 221; id. 1926, 20) and was removed from there c. 1944 to its present location in the memorial to Mary Jesse Louisa Roach, d. 1944, and to Francis Handley Roach, her husband and rector of Toft, d. 1951 (bronze plaques on the monument).

St Peter and St Paul

The decorated surfaces that survive are good; slightly weathered. The stone has been tidied up for its present use, with the result that one broad and one narrow face have been recut completely; also parts of both the other faces.

Part of a collared shaft of South Kesteven type.

A (broad): The one partially surviving broad face is decorated in low relief on the shaft with what is probably a closed pattern of interlinked oval loops or a run of four-strand interlace; the strands are enriched with an incised medial line and there is a broad plain border. This stops against a projecting collar of the type exemplified by Creeton 1 (Ills. 124–7), standing 1cm proud. It is decorated with a similar broad plain border and a panel filled with a closed-circuit pattern whose precise form is made uncertain by surface damage.

B (narrow): The shaft is decorated by a run of four-strand plait within broad plain borders, the right-hand of which has been largely cut away in recutting the stone for secondary use. The surface of the collar has been recut, thereby removing all decoration.

C (broad): Recut, and now concealed by modern stone.

D (narrow): Recut, but with traces of holes in a regular pattern above the level of the collar, showing the remains of interlace.

This piece has most of the characteristics associated with the South Kesteven group of shafts (Chapter V). It has a section like a grave-marker, i.e. it is about twice as broad as it is deep; it is made of light grey gritty ragstone, which looks like Barnack Rag; it has panels with undecorated rectangular borders, and it has a projecting collar. Its decoration, too, is typical of the group. Fine four-strand plait is found on many of the narrow faces, as at Creeton 1 (Ills. 125, 127); large versions of interlinked oval loops are deployed on Creeton 1 and the Elloe Stone at Moulton (Ills. 176, 178), and the closed-circuit pattern on the collar may be similar to that on the broad face of that cross's collar (Ills. 171–2). Insufficient of this piece survives to offer a closer assessment than the general date-range assigned to the group.

The modern iconic reuse of the stone, with Toft 2b, is especially remarkable (Stocker with Everson 1990, 98; see Ill. 382).

Late tenth or eleventh century

(—) 1891–2a, xii; Davies 1914–15, 221; Davies 1926, 20; Butler 1963–4, 113; Pevsner and Harris 1964, 406; Pevsner et al. 1989, 767; Stocker with Everson 1990, 98