West end of the church, beneath the tower, in a modern base

Found in the chancel during the 1868 restoration, and initially placed in the churchyard (Bulmer 1890, 601)

St John the Baptist

Complete shaft, the head lost; broken in two at the mid point of the decorated panels, but conserved. There is a vertical fracture visible on the narrow faces, presently repaired with a wire collar.

A (broad): Most of the head of the cross is lost, except for the feet and pleated skirt from a Crucifixion. The surviving portion of the cross-head has a narrow perimeter moulding. Below this the edge mouldings are cabled and the panel has two profile animals, one above the other, fettered from below. The upper beast moves right and its head turns back. It has an S-disposition and is fettered across hind legs, torso and neck. The gaping jaws have fangs, the snout is sharp, the domed brow contains an incised circular eye and the ears are pricked. Below this the shaft is fractured. The lower beast moves left, its head turned back and only its hind quarters fettered. Its two forelegs are free. The base of the panel has a vandyke in a narrow plain frame (0.75 in), its point resolved in a Stafford knot (pattern E loops). Within the vandyke is a disorganised twist in a narrow strand (0.75 in) which passes over the upper moulding to form the fetter of the animals above. The lower part of the shaft is undecorated and the corner edges bevelled.

B (narrow): Of the cross-head only the terminal loops of modelled interlace survive. Below, the edge moulding is cabled, terminating lower right in a neat animal head in three dimensions with incised circular eyes and pricked, hollow ears. The panel contains a run of close-packed interlace in narrow modelled strand, mainly turned pattern C with added diagonals, clumsily resolved at the top and terminating below in an unpinned loop within a bar terminal. Beneath is a vandyke in a narrow modelled frame, its tip a Stafford knot. Within the vandyke is a twist in modelled strand, with a pattern E knot at the top but accommodated to the triangular field below. The lower part of the shaft is undecorated, with bevelled edges as face A.

C (broad) : The cross-head has a modelled perimeter moulding containing remains of a closely woven closed circuit interlace in modelled strand. Below, the edge mouldings are cabled with animal-head terminals. The panel contains two ring-knots, one above the other, the upper much damaged. The lower is encircled pattern C with two unpinned loops below. Its elements are symmetrical but disorganised. Below this, a vandyke in a narrow modelled frame has a Stafford knot tip and contains a confused twist with a spiral element at the top. The lower part is undecorated.

D (narrow) : The cross-head is damaged. Below it the edge mouldings are cabled. The panel contains four registers of spiralled half pattern A in narrow modelled strand, with bar terminals above and below. A vandyke is similar to that on face B but contains a four-cord twist tapering to a point. The lower portion is undecorated.

This is an ambitious carving with some unique features, despite its twist patterns being loose and disorganised. Its form is a round-shaft derivative, the lower half's bevelled edges contrasting with the finely carved corner cables above. The pendant triangular panel, or vandyke, is an ornamental feature of this type: see Gilling West 1 (Ill. 262–5), Hawsker 1 (Ills. 319–22) and Lastingham 1 in Ryedale (Lang 1991, 167, ills. 574–7), and is probably a skeuomorph of a metal appliqué fastened to the pole to give added strength (see Chapter V). The plain lower areas may have accommodated hogbacks, but the sub-rectangular section is reminiscent of Sockburn 8, co. Durham (Cramp 1984, 138–9, pl. 135), and Cumbrian shafts like those at Beckermet St Bridget (Bailey and Cramp 1988, 54–7, ill. 41). This corner of Yorkshire does seem to have close connections with the Cumbrian series of Anglo-Scandinavian monuments, as well as with Allertonshire (see Chapter IV). The animal-head terminal to the edge moulding is rare but can be compared with Sockburn 8, whose vandyke terminals are treated similarly (Cramp 1984, pl. 135). The fettered animals are hardly a beast-chain but their form is again reminiscent of those discrete beasts of Sockburn 8. The skirted figure of Christ has parallels across the North Riding, for example at Ellerburn 8 (Lang 1991, 129, ill. 437) and, nearer to Stanwick, Thornton Watlass 1 (Ill. 812).

First half of tenth century

Allen and Browne 1885, 352; Bulmer 1890, 601; Morris, J. 1904, 360, 420; Collingwood 1906–7, 122–3, fig. 14; Collingwood 1907, 271, 275, 282, 283, 285, 288, 293, 394, figs. i–j on 395; Collingwood 1912, 118, 119, 127, pl. VIII; Collingwood 1915, 276, 282, 283; Collingwood 1923, 9, pl. II, 8; Edleston 1923–4a, 292; Brøndsted 1924, 221–2, 223–4, 233, 235, fig. 165; Collingwood 1926a, 326; Collingwood 1927a, 8, 129, 150–1, figs. 13.8, 169; Morris, J. 1931, 364, 417; Elgee and Elgee 1933, 219; Brown, G. B. 1937, 242, pl. LXXXVII; Dauncey 1941, 124, fig. 24; Kendrick 1941b, 17; Mee 1941, 229; Kendrick 1949, 76; Rix 1960, 75; Pevsner 1966, 355; Adcock 1974, 134, 150, 157n, pls. 36c, 52a–b; Morris, C. 1976a, 145; Coatsworth 1979, I, 249, 309, II, 47, no. 2, pl. 116; Bailey 1980, 187, 240; Cramp 1984, 168; Hatcher 1990, 229; Lang 1991, 153; Coatsworth 2000, 169n

[1] The following are general references to the Stanwick stones: (—) 1880–9, civ; Allen and Browne 1885, 352; Bulmer 1890, 601; Hodges 1894, 195; (—) 1896–1905c, cxxxii; (—) 1909–10, 66–7; Page, W. 1914, 132; Elgee and Elgee 1933, 251; (—) 1934–6b, 137; Mee 1941, 229; Pevsner 1966, 355; Morris, C. 1976a, 145; Morris, C. 1978, 45; Morris, R. 1989, 455; Hatcher 1990, 229; Welfare et al. 1990, 18; Stocker 2000, 206.

[2] The following is an unpublished manuscript reference to no. 2: BL Add. MS 37552 no. XIV, items 782–3 (Romilly Allen collection).