The Corpus: Middleham 01 (St Mary and St Alkelda)

Volume 6: Northern Yorkshire

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Current Display: Middleham 01 (St Mary and St Alkelda), Yorkshire North Riding

Overview

Object type: Part of shaft or slab [1]

Measurements: L. 78.7 cm (31 in) W. 43.2 cm (17 in) D. Built in

Stone type: Medium-grained sandstone with sub-angular grains. Very pale brown (10YR 7/6). Sandstone of local origin, Namurian, Upper Carboniferous

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ill. 649

Corpus volume reference: Vol 6 p. 178

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Present Location

Now built into the floor of the nave at the south-east end

Evidence for Discovery

Discovered when the floor was lowered in 1878, 'face downward in the old vestry', but not covering the 'rude stone grave' which was found in the nave at the same time and thought to contain the bones of St Alkelda ((—) 1878; contra (—) 1909b). Subsequently built into exterior east wall of north aisle (Brock 1888). Date of removal uncertain, but lying loose under the tower in 1966.

Church Dedication

St Mary and St Alkelda

Present Condition

Very worn; only one face visible

Description

A broad, grooved, double edge moulding frames the sides and end of a long panel. The plain inner moulding is slimmer than the outer. Within the panel is a run of bungled median-incised interlace in hacked and picked work. The pattern attempts to be a three-cord plait. At the end of the panel the strands are chopped off at an arbitrary point rather than being resolved in a terminal (contra Collingwood 1907). Some elements tend to be stopped-plait.

Discussion

This is a very crude, unplanned work. It is the top of a shaft, judging from the panel termination, although Pevsner (who saw the stone lying loose) thought it a slab. Stopped-plait interlace is a feature of Viking-age carving in Cumbria and south-west Scotland (Bailey and Cramp 1988, 35, fig. 6b, ill. 688).

Date

Tenth century

References

(—) 1878, 5; Brock 1888, 178, 409, fig. 19; Hodges 1894, 195; Morris, J. 1904, 262, 420; Collingwood 1907, 275, 371, fig. on 368; (—) 1909b, 481; Collingwood 1912, 126; Page, W. 1914, 256; Morris, J. 1931, 263, 417; Pontefract and Hartley [1936], 141; Mee 1941, 155; Hartley and Ingleby 1956, 305; Pevsner 1966, 245; Hatcher 1990, 158

Endnotes

[1] The following is an unpublished manuscript reference to no. 1: BL Add. MS 37552 no. XIV, item 695 (Romilly Allen collection).