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Object type: Plain cross-base [1]
Measurements:
L. 63 cm (24.8 in) W. 36.8 cm (14.4 in) H. 26.3 cm (10.3 in)
Socket: L. 22.8 cm (9 in) W. 8.6 cm (3.4 in) D. 26.3 cm (10.3 in)
Stone type: Poor quality sandstone, with extensive cross-bedding, roughly parallel to the top and bottom faces of the block. A fine-grained, sub-angular, feldspathic sandstone with a pink to light brown colour (7.5YR 7/4–6/4). This cross-base has been subject to intense burning while in situ, so only the top surface has been burnt to a rich red colour (2.5YR 4/6–5/6); the rest of the block which was buried in the ground retains its natural colouration. Although certainly from the Saltwick Formation, Aalenian, Middle Jurassic, this inferior quality sandstone probably came from cliff-top quarries local to the monastic site.
Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 1095–8
Corpus volume reference: Vol 6 p. 265-266
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The base is completely plain. The mortise hole penetrates through the stone.
The small size of the mortise hole lends support to an interpretation of this base as a support for a wooden cross. The existence of wooden crosses as the prototypes to those of stone and their continued existence beside monuments in stone has seen strong support (Bailey 1996a, 47–8, 118; see Chapter VI). The discovery of a putative carved wooden boss from such a cross in the Wood Quay excavations at Dublin (Lang 1988b, 4, 49, pl. I), as well as the skeuomorphic features of Whitby 2 (Cramp 1993, 69, and see above), reinforces this argument. The lack of any diagnostic features on the stone makes it impossible to date accurately, but if wooden crosses at Whitby are seen as an early feature it can be placed in the same milieu as the Plain Cross series.
