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Object type: Cross-arm fragment
Measurements: (after Collingwood 1907) H. 34.3 cm (13.5 in) W. 33 cm (13 in) D. 23 cm (9 in)
Stone type: Coarse brownish-grey grit' (ibid.)
Plate numbers in printed volume: Ill. 881
Corpus volume reference: Vol 6 p. 230
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Collingwood's drawing shows most of the right arm of a cross surrounded by a broad edge moulding. On the right is a shafted cross, with head type B6, and to the left a half-turned figure dressed in a short belted tunic and holding a rod-like object horizontally over his shoulder. There is a broad curving feature in front of him which must have extended into the centre of the cross-head.
It is difficult from a Collingwood drawing alone to reach conclusions about this piece. The short belted tunic does imply that this is a secular figure, and Collingwood (1907, 407), followed by Coatsworth (1979, II, 74), suggested that this figure might be that of a sponge-bearer in a Crucifixion scene. Although Crucifixion scenes in the heads of crosses are particularly common in this area in the ninth to the eleventh centuries (Fig. 9), figures of lance and sponge bearers usually face towards the Crucified and hold their instruments more vertically. The standing cross is very prominent here and this is not normally found with a peopled Crucifixion scene, although three empty crosses can occur together (see Great Ayton 4, Ill. 309). The figure as shown in Collingwood's drawing might be interpreted as pulling the cross with a rope. It thus seems impossible without the original sculpture to decide on the subject matter of this fragment.
