The Corpus: Burnsall 12

Volume 8: Western Yorkshire

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Current Display: Burnsall 12, West Riding of Yorkshire

Overview

Object type: Part of hogback [1]

Measurements: L. 66 cm (26 in); W. (end) 21 cm (8.3 in); H. (crown) 37 cm (14.5 in)

Stone type: As Burnsall (St Wilfrid) 7 with occasional quartzite pebbles up to 10mm in size. Bedding features parallel to the hogback top. [J.S.]

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 132-6

Corpus volume reference: Vol 8 p. 113

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Present Location

As Burnsall 1a–d

Evidence for Discovery

See no. 8.

Church Dedication

St Wilfrid

Present Condition

Incomplete and worn. Only one end of the hogback survives.

Description

This hogback appears to have been undecorated except for its muzzled end-beast. The ridge is not distinguished and the top and sides are scabbled but otherwise completely plain. The only evident details are the division between the bear's ears, visible on faces D and E, which are plain flat lappets with rounded corners, and the raised band of the muzzle.

Discussion

See discussion of Burnsall (St Wilfrid) 11. The plainness is characteristic of this site. Lang (1967, 54–5) commented on the lack of naturalism and the fact that details of the bear's head are confined to the top. The only parallel to this example is Burnsall (St Wilfrid) 13, below.

Date

First half of the tenth century

References

Stavert 1913, 11–12; Collingwood 1915a, 152, 284; Collingwood 1927, 169; Wall 1930, 51; Mee 1941, 91; Lang 1967, 54–5, 271–2, 280, figs. 15, 60, pl. XI; Lang 1984, 99, 106, 124, no. 2, pl. on 125; Coatsworth 2005, 16, no. 11

Endnotes

[1] The following are general references to the Burnsall stones: Whitaker 1878, 504; Browne 1880–4a, lxxiv; Allen and Browne 1885, 353; Browne 1885c, 157; Browne 1885–6, 124; Allen 1889, 230; Allen 1890, 293, 294; Allen 1891, 158; MacMichael 1906, 359; Morris 1911, 143; Collingwood 1915b, 334; Browne 1916, 50; Elgee and Elgee 1933, 218; Mee 1941, 91; Pevsner 1959, 152; Lang 1984, 88.