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Object type: Part of grave-cover
Measurements: L. 33 cm (13 in) W. 38 > 33 cm (15 > 13 in) D. 12 cm (4.7 in)
Stone type: Greyish yellow (10YR 8/3–4) moderately shelly oolitic limestone, with ooliths of a wide size range (0.3 to 0.8mm diameter) and shell fragments up to 10mm in a hard calcite matrix, the shell fragments aligned parallel to the carved surface of the stone. Upper Lincolnshire Limestone, Inferior Oolite Group
Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 84–5
Corpus volume reference: Vol 5 p. 126-127
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This fragment has been recut as a plinth and consequently has a deep chamfer cut along the arris between faces A (top) and D (long). It has been split in half longitudinally for this secondary use, in addition to having been cut horizontally into several pieces. Faces A (top) and C–F (long side, ends and bottom) have been recut so that no original surface remains. Original decoration survives only on face B, where it consists of interlace in low relief.
B (long): The upper angle of the stone is badly damaged and it is not possible to confirm that it was cable moulded. The lower angle is missing altogether. The field is divided near the end of the surviving fragment into two panels by a vertical band of double cable moulding. The interlace in the damaged transverse end panel consisted of a run of four-strand plait with a medial line, disposed as, for example, motif type v (Fig. 10). The long horizontal panel retains two runs of interlace. Towards the upper angle of the stone is a tight run of three-strand plait originating in a 'bull's head' (Fig. 11) of which very little now survives. An early photograph, however (Cole 1897–8, facing p. 387) shows this bull's head clearly, with a nose band in relief. This end of face B has been broken away since 1897. The run of plait developing from the bull's horns is unornamented. The free end of this plait connects with the lower run of more expansive four-strand interlace below, which also incorporates a free ring and a pattern E knot just before it passes under the 'nose' of the bull's head. In this more restricted zone the damage to the stone makes the exact detail unclear, but the strands have an incised medial line.
There are three covers decorated with this form of cross at Carlby (see also nos. 3 and 4 below) and covers of this type find many parallels in the county, of which the nearest is that at Castle Bytham (no. 1) with a similar cross decorating the foot end (Ill. 88). There is also a nearby example of a cover decorated in this fashion at Frisby-on-the-Wreake in Leicestershire, which is of particular interest as it, too, has been reused for a piscina bowl in precisely the same way. The group of covers excavated from below the ramparts of Cambridge Castle contained several with crosses of this type and this suggests an eleventh-century date for the fashion (Fox 1920–1).
