Now stored in a locked chamber beneath the west tower

The local historian K. Laybourn stated that 'two or three of these stones were dug out when a cellar was being made at Waterloo House, next to the Post Office', though without giving a date (Laybourn 1979, 3). Others may have been found during the 1845–7 restoration of the church. An indeterminate number of stones were noted in the porch in 1866 and subsequently (Glynne 1915, 472), but all except nos. 9 and 10 (found near Gilling Beck in 1976), no. 7 (found in 1998) and no. 8, were drawn by Collingwood in 1907. Nos. 1 and 2 were in the churchyard at that date, but by 1931 all the pieces were outside, subject to erosion. Subsequently moved back inside the porch, until 1998.

St Agatha

Much more worn and damaged since Collingwood's day; the top is breaking up.

A (narrow): The shaft is divided into two sections by a raised encircling band. Below this band the shaft is slightly thicker than above it. The section, both above and below, is rectangular. The edge mouldings are modelled and confined to the upper part of the shaft. The single panel contains a profile ribbon beast with a high domed head and slit jowl. The eye is oval and incised. The rump tapers and takes up a half-S position, but the front end is axially disposed and points to the head of the shaft. The body is fettered by small loose strands, some of them split, terminating in volutes or scrolls. In the lower right corner the looping fetter expands into a feathered terminal. The encircling band stands proud and has a squared section. Its face carries a strip of disorganised twist in which there is a free-ring element. Below the band is a vandyke without any edge moulding, consisting of a large ring-knot with two tight concentric rings threaded by bands which lie loosely outside them, sometimes as irregular fillers.

B (broad): The section and encircling band are as on face A. Above the band the edge moulding is neatly modelled, narrower on the left than on the right. At the top left the moulding swings inwards to the lost neck of the cross. At the top a tapering panel retains the lower scrolled loop of a strand with an angular feature by its side. The long panel contains two registers of ring-knots, with two concentric rings in flat strand, each one identical to that in the vandyke on face A. Here the threading strands have bar terminals at the top and bottom and lying strands half-way. The knots are separated by a horizontal S-shaped filler with a leaflet erupting from its upper edge. To the left of the lower knot are two vertical S-shaped fillers. The encircling band is as on face A and below is a vandyke with the same ring knot. Its threading strands are packed in a disorganised way around and especially above the concentric rings.

C (narrow): Covered with mortar and the lower part scabbled, with the encircling band hacked away. Above that point the edge moulding is as on the other faces. The panel has two ring-knots as on face B, though most of the upper one is lost.

D (broad): Covered with mortar and the lower part defaced as on face C. Above, the edge mouldings are modelled but damaged. The panel contains damaged interlace which may have had free ring elements.

The form of this shaft is a round-shaft derivative (see Chapter IV), with a skeuomorphic rope-like binding and pendant vandykes representing appliqués in the manner of Irish metalwork (Lang 1986a, 246–8). This is a different form of round-shaft derivative from Gilling West 2: here it has a collar (Cramp 1991, xiv–xv, fig. 1h). The long profile animal is more common in the Ryedale school (Lang 1991, 41) than in this area: though it is of a distinctive type, the scrolled fetters are reminiscent of Levisham 5 (ibid., ill. 648). Another link with the Ryedale school is the twisted collar and double ring-knot of Middleton 3 (ibid., ill. 682). The flat strand of the knots also reflect Ryedale usage.

Tenth century

Allen and Browne 1885, 353; Collingwood 1907, 275, 282, 283, 288, 293, 322, figs. d–e on 323; Collingwood 1912, 118, 124, fig. d–e; Collingwood 1915, 263, 276, 283; Brøndsted 1924, 196, 226, 233, fig. 143; Collingwood 1927a, 129, 132–3, 150, fig. 143; Brown, G. B. 1937, 242; Kendrick 1941b, 16–17, pl. VIIa; Kendrick 1941c, 134; Shetelig 1948, 96, fig. 19; Kendrick 1949, 75, 99, pl. XLVIII.1; Shetelig 1954, 136, fig. 46; Pevsner 1966, 170; Lang 1973, 21–2, 24–5, fig. 2; Cramp and Lang 1977, no. 10, pls.; Lang 1978b, 150; Lang 1978c, 16–18; Cramp 1984, 84, 168; Hall and Lang 1986, 67; Lang 1991, 32, 185; Walsh 1994, 21–2, 28, fig. 9

[1] The following are general references to the Gilling West stones: Browne 1880–4, cx, cxii; Allen and Brown 1885, 353; (—) 1890–5b, xxvi; Hodges 1894, 195; Speight 1897, 176; Morris, J. 1904, 161, 420; Bogg 1908, 167; Page, W. 1914, 81; Glynne 1915, 472; Morris, J. 1931, 162, 417; Elgee and Elgee 1933, 189, 247; Mee 1941, 91; Lang and Morris 1976b, 130; Laybourn 1979, 2–3, fig. 1; O'Sullivan and Young 1980, 13; Hatcher 1990, 95; Laybourn 1996, 1–2; Hadley 2000, 242. Gilling West has been identified with Ingetlingum, the site of a monastery founded in the seventh century in atonement for the murder of Oswine, king of Deira (Bede 1896, H.A.A. ch. 2; Bede 1969, H.E. III.14, III.24). The churchyard is curvilinear, but limited excavations in 1979 produced only post-medieval material from beneath the enclosure bank (O'Sullivan and Young 1980, 13–14). (Eds.)