Volume 8: Western Yorkshire

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Current Display: Cawthorne 2, West Riding of Yorkshire Forward button Back button
Overview
Present Location
On top of the restored cross-shaft in the churchyard west of the tower, above Cawthorne 3
Evidence for Discovery
Discovered in a restoration between 1875 and 1880, over the middle pier of the north wall of the nave, hidden under many coats of whitewash (Pratt 1882, 68).
Church Dedication
All Saints
Present Condition
Worn, with evidence of a deliberate defacement of the centre and lower arm of face A.
Description

A cross-head of type B10.

A (broad): This face is edged by fine roll mouldings — triple in the upper and side arms, and single in the lower arm. Within these frames, in the upper and side arms, is a simple pattern composed of four incised semi-circles, one centred on each side, which Collingwood (1915a, 154) named the 'D pattern'. The central area, rising into the lower part of the upper arm and extending to the bottom of the lower arm, has been deliberately defaced, possibly because the cross was reused as a building stone. The centre was clearly a boss, however, as can be seen in profile.

B and D (narrow): Plain, but with roll mouldings in the armpits

C (broad): The face is edged by a single roll moulding. The centre is circled by a wide raised moulding, leaving a smaller boss inset in its centre. The outer moulding may have been decorated, possibly a cable moulding. The arms are plain, except for the lower border of the lower arm, which has two shallow incised rectangular compartments each with an incised semi-circle inside, depending from the upper edge.

Discussion

This head is similar to Cawthorne 1 in form, except that the ends of the arms seem to be square, not curved like the side arms of Cawthorne 1. The problems of identifying the central defaced area as a figure are as for Cawthorne 1, but the two together present a stronger case for the deliberate defacement of a central figure. These figures need not have been grotesque, however, as suggested by Sidebottom (1994, 86). A possible Irish connection has been suggested for both the highly modelled style and for figures occupying this central position. Numerous Irish crosses with a variety of themes in this position can be cited, some of them in a highly modelled style — see Harbison 1992, II, for example figs. 101, 103 (Castledermot, Co. Kildare, North Cross: Crucifixion and Eve giving the apple to Adam); fig. 360 (Kells, Co. Meath, Unfinished Cross: Crucifixion); fig. 375 (Kilfenora, Co. Clare, West Cross: Crucifixion); fig. 337 (Kells, Co. Meath, Market Cross: Daniel in the Lions' Den); fig. 473 (Monasterboice, Co. Louth, Muiredach's Cross: Last Judgment). However, in the absence of any detail it is impossible to go further in this direction.

A modelled figure, or at least a modelled head, in the centre of a cross-head, while fairly rare is not unknown in Northumbrian sculpture: there is an example from Lythe, north Yorkshire, no. 7 (Lang 2001, 156, ill. 490), dated mid-ninth to tenth century as it is on a cross of Anglian form. There is another, largely defaced, at Bromfield, Cumberland, no. 3 (Bailey and Cramp 1988, 81, ills. 177–9) on an undoubtedly tenth-century ring-head. The highly modelled sculptures in the arms of the cross-head at Bilton in Ainsty, no. 1 (Ill. 33), need to be remembered in this context. A more important analogue from Yorkshire, however, is the cross-head from St Mary Castlegate, with the crucified Christ on one face and on the other the Risen Christ or a Christ in Majesty (Coatsworth 1987, 161–3; Lang 1991, 96–7, ills. 297–301), another cross seen as representing a mixing of Anglian and Hiberno-Scandinavian traditions. However, Bailey and Cramp (1988, 81), in the discussion of Bromfield 3, also mention the west Yorkshire figure of the ecclesiastic in the lower arm of Crofton 1 (Ills. 174, 183), a wholly Anglian piece, and to this I would add the Anglian free-armed cross-head which undoubtedly has a head at the centre, from Low Bentham (Ill. 542). The form of the head and the 'D' motif suggests that Cawthorne 2, like no. 1, belongs to the Anglo-Scandinavian period, but the figure at the centre could have been influenced both by local parallels and the Norse-Irish taste.

Sidebottom (1994, 85–7) included Cawthorne 1–4 with Ecclesfield 1, Mexborough 1 and Penistone 1 as part of the 'Incised Motif ' sub -division of his 'North Regional School'. There are similarities between the Cawthorne stones and those from Ecclesfield and Penistone (Ills. 247, 631) in the same area, but there are also differences in style of carving between these sites. Mexborough (Ill. 536) seems less close and its relationships lie elsewhere.

Date
Tenth to eleventh century
References
Browne 1880–4b, cxiv; Pratt 1882, 68; Innocent 1910, 92; Morris 1911, 151–2; Collingwood 1912, 119, 121, 128; Collingwood 1915a, 152, fig. b on 153; Collingwood 1927, 178, fig. 223b; Collingwood 1929, 57, fig. b on 56; Elgee and Elgee 1933, 222; Mee 1941, 101, pl. facing 38; Pevsner 1959, 161; Ryder 1982, 90, 105, fig. iii on 106; Sidebottom 1994, 85–7, 237, no. 2, and pl.
Endnotes
[1] The following are general references to the Cawthorne stones: Morris 1911, 46; Collingwood 1915b, 335; Innocent 1914–19a, 248; Ryder 1982, 90, 125; Bailey and Cramp 1988, 133; Sidebottom 1997, 50; Hey c. 2003, 47.

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