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Object type: Cross-head [1]
Measurements: H. 91 cm (35.8 in); W. 85.5 cm (33.7 in); D. Built in
Stone type: Sandstone, pale grey, very coarse grained, quartzose and quartz-cemented. Upper Carboniferous, ?local Silkstone Rock Sandstone, Pennine Lower Coal Measures Group. [G.L.]
Plate numbers in printed volume: Ill. 150
Corpus volume reference: Vol 8 p. 114
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A free-armed cross-head of type E10.
A (broad): The head is edged by a fine double roll moulding. The decoration within this is very damaged, with part of the surface inside the right arm appearing to have flaked away, while the central feature with its extension into the lower arm looks as if it has been deliberately scabbled away, perhaps when the head was reused as a building stone. There are traces of decoration at the top of the upper arm, and in the left arm. The central circle with its lugs and surrounding moulding drawn by Collingwood (1915a, 152, fig. b) is very doubtful: all that can be said is that there was a raised, carved circular central area. The extension into the lower arm looks almost like a pair of legs with turned-out feet on an inverted half-circle — a mound? One of the lugs attached to the central circle, as drawn by Collingwood, does seem to be present, though in less regular form, on the right, but that on the left looks more like two strands feeding into the decoration of the left arm. The traces of half circles (such as the lug on the right of the centre and a very clear example against the border of the lower right armpit) confirm that Ryder (1982, 105) was correct in suggesting that at least some of the remains are patterns based on the 'D' motif, as on Cawthorne 2 below: nevertheless the feature that Collingwood drew as a volute of a plant-scroll does seem to be present on the left, much less certainly on the right.
It is not possible to reach a final decision about the original decoration of this piece. Ryder (ibid., 105, 108) has noted the similarities with the churchyard cross (Cawthorne 2) and suggested both had a raised figure of Christ in Majesty which has been defaced in both cases. The existence of the figure is ultimately not provable, however, since it is impossible to account for the position of head, arms and hands: but see the discussion of Cawthorne 2 below. The 'D' motif links this cross-head firmly with both the shaft and the other head (Cawthorne 2 and 4).
