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Object type: Shaft fragment [1] [2]
Measurements: H. 53 > 52 cm (20.8 > 20.4 in) W. 31 > 30 cm (12.2 > 11.9 in) D. Built in
Stone type: Fine-grained sandstone, with sub-angular grains and well sorted fabric; characterised by the presence of widely distributed and prominent limonite flecks. White (10YR 8/2) in colour with yellowish brown (10YR 5/6) flecks. Stone quarried extensively in the Forcett, Aldbrough, Melsonby, Barton area; Lower Carboniferous (Brigantian), sandstone immediately above the Undersett Limestone
Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 250–1
Corpus volume reference: Vol 6 p. 109-110
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A (broad, interior) : The edge moulding (1 inch wide) is plain and flat. In the centre of the panel is a lorgnette cross with circular hollowed terminals of the 'spectacle' type (Bailey and Cramp 1988, fig. 7). The cross divides two lower panels. At the lower left is the upper terminal of bungled closed circuit interlace, median-incised and somewhat lop-sided. At the lower right is much defaced interlace, probably of the same pattern. Around the upper limb of the lorgnette cross are three crudely cut profile quadrupeds, possibly boars with spinal ridges, each with a double outline. The two at the sides face upwards; the uppermost, with pricked ears, strides to the right. Above are the remains of disorganised median-incised interlace strands.
B and D (narrow) : Built in.
C (broad, exterior) : There is a plain edge moulding. At the lower end is a tightly coiled serpent with its head emerging at the top right. Above it is a 'hart and hound' motif, facing left, crudely cut. There was possibly a border separating it from the serpent.
The lorgnette cross is probably a skeuomorph of a metal appliqué with rivets, and is a feature of both pre-Viking and Anglo-Scandinavian monuments in the north (Collingwood 1913a; see Chapter VI). The 'hart and hound' motif is common in Anglo-Scandinavian carving, occurring locally on Kirklevington 11 (Ill. 431), but widely distributed from Yorkshire through Cumbria to the Isle of Man (p. 34). It would seem to have been acceptable both as a secular hunting motif and to have had a specifically Christian interpretation as Christ's redemptive hunt of the soul (Bailey 1977, 68–9, 70–1). The coiled snake is found on Crathorne 1, Melsonby 4 and Stanwick 4 (Ills. 129, 652, 765), and serpents are found more widely on monuments with Scandinavian ornament in co. Durham (Cramp 1984, 136), Ryedale (Lang 1991, 167) and Cumbria (Bailey and Cramp 1988, 109).
The unique and prominent depictions of the boars are an interesting feature of this shaft. The boar was one of the beasts particularly sacred to Freyr, the god of fertility, and in one instance a boar and sow were associated with the land-taking in Iceland of a man called Helgi, 'a man of mixed beliefs' (Turville-Petre 1964, 166). It is at least possible that this monument was raised by a newly converted Scandinavian settler, and that it proclaimed his land right as well as his nominal conversion.
[1] The following are general references to the Forcett stones: (—) 1880–9, civ; Hodges 1894, 195; (—) 1896–1905c, cxxxii; Morris, J. 1904, 156, 420; (—) 1909–10, 72; Morris, J. 1931, 158, 417; (—) 1934–6b, 137; Pevsner 1966, 163; Morris, C. 1976a, 142; Bailey 1980, 191; Welfare et al. 1990, 18.
[2] The following is an unpublished manuscript reference to no. 1: BL Add. MS 37552 no. XIV, items 557–9 (Romilly Allen collection).
