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Object type: Grave-marker
Measurements: H. 75.5 cm (29.7 in); W. 31 > 28 cm (12.2 > 11 in); D. 20 < 22 cm (7.9 < 8.6 in) (widest at top)
Stone type: Sandstone, described as reddish-brown in original article but now grey coloured, medium to coarse grained, quartz with subordinate feldspar. Quartz cemented. Upper Carboniferous, local Pennine Coal Measures Group (Rotherham Red Sandstone?) [G.L.]
Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 546-51
Corpus volume reference: Vol 8 p. 214
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This is not part of a cross, but as Collingwood noticed is a complete monument.
A (broad): The whole face represents a shallow niche with a shallowly arched head, within which stands a robed frontal figure with very slightly modelled round eyes and nose. The figure carries a cross of type B6.
B (narrow): The main panel has an irregular twist with a flat strand, the 'panel' edges conforming to the sides of the twist.
C (broad): An irregular grid-like pseudo-basket plait, with strands of uneven width, much less parallel than in Collingwood's drawing. Collingwood drew the feature above as a hand held horizontally, but this is far from clear now.
D (narrow): A modelled quadruped with a long thin body, its head at the top and tail at the bottom of the panel.
E (top): At the top and facing side D is another modelled animal head with pricked, hollowed ears and incised eyes. Its body presumably extends along the top of the slab. On the other side there seems to be another animal head with a ring in its jaw, extending onto face B.
This is a very odd piece, but one which makes some very interesting points. Some of the ornament seems to relate to the traditional Anglian cross-shaft, including the twists and simplified animal ornament on one of the sides; the interlace-like cover on face C; and most of all, the cross-carrying figure on the front. This could be a portrayal of a saint, possibly St Peter, who is sometimes depicted carrying a staff-cross (see the discussion of the Traditio Legis scene on Dewsbury 1, p. 130), or it could be Christ. Whoever it was intended to represent, it certainly represents contact with the long tradition of the panelled cross with saints and other figures of Christian significance, and interestingly, given the form of the monument, there is no suggestion of a secular portrait figure (see Otley 6, Ill. 608, and Weston 1, Ills. 777, 781).
The animal heads at the top might be thought to have at least a nodding acquaintance with the well-known hogback form, with Norse-Irish connotations (found in west Yorkshire only at Burnsall (nos. 11–13) and in a destroyed example from Kirkby Malzeard: see Chap. IV, p. 36), even though in this case the heads face outward. It is much smaller than any of the hogback series, however, except perhaps for Brompton 16 (Lang 2001, ills. 79–81) and the miniature hogback from Bidston on the Wirral which is comparable in size (Bailey and Whalley 2006, figs. 1–4). The Mirfield piece has no other point of comparison with the hogback form, however, and truer parallels are some small grave-markers, apparently end-stones, from York Minster. These are sometimes topped by facing beasts (Lang 1991, no. 32, ill. 133), but some, like York Minster 33, have addorsed beasts at the top (ibid., ill 138). The Mirfield example is even more simplified, however, with no interlacing involvement from any of the elements of these creatures.
