As Dewsbury 4

First mentioned and figured by Whitaker 1816, and said to have the same history as Dewsbury (minster, All Saints) 1–3.

All Saints

Incomplete, and parts of only two faces survive, both worn and damaged.

Part of one arm, probably the upper arm, of a cross-head of type D9/10.

A (broad): The edge moulding between faces A and D survives on the left. Although very worn this is clearly a cable moulding, though of a different type to that on Dewsbury 4, in that the cable binding is a single strand and runs in the opposite direction: 'Z-plied' as opposed to 'S-plied'. Within the edge moulding are parts of two incomplete figures. The upper is an angel, who can be seen to be nimbed and to have long hair, although his head is incomplete. The wing on the left rises behind the angel's right shoulder and is folded down to fill the double curve of the arm. The wing is hollowed to form a backdrop to the angel's shoulder. Part of the opposite wing also survives. The angel is robed and has drapery folds over his right arm and a tubular fold forming a V on his breast, and apparently terminating in a rather angular loop below his hand. His right hand is held in front of him, resting on the base of the V folds. His left arm and hand are not clear, but he may be holding an object like a rod which crosses his left shoulder and the remains of his left wing. The drapery folds below this arm are quite clear.

In front of the angel and to his right below is a figure which appears to be crouching at the angel's feet, although his actual stance is uncertain as only a half-figure survives — and indeed this may have been no more than a half-figure originally, given its position in a cross-arm. He has hair of which the hairline fits around his head like a close-fitting cap, possibly a tonsure. His right arm is extended in front of the angel's robed legs. It could be seen as grasping those legs, but close examination of the remains suggest he is actually grasping a scroll. His face, with arched brows and drilled eyes, is turned out to face the viewer.

B (narrow and C (broad): Missing

D (narrow): On this face are the remains of two panels, each contained within one of the curves of the arm. The edging on the right of both panels is the cable moulding described above under face A. The border between the two panels appears to be plain and flat, but is quite damaged. (i) Only the bottom right-hand corner of the upper panel survives. It contains a curved form around which a narrower curved strand passes. This is possibly an abbreviated form of the theme of an animal involved in interlace. (ii) The larger remnant of the panel below has an extremely damaged form which has been interpreted as a figure with upraised arms and a horned head (Collingwood 1915a, 166, fig. g). However there is evidence for a pair of eyes rather low on the head, and it is possible that this is an animal seen from above, its snout to the top of the panel and its paws placed on either side. The objects on either side of the snout cannot be identified, but they are unlikely to be horns.

The cable-moulding on this piece links it to Dewsbury 1–3 rather than to nos. 4 and 5. The upper figure on face A is clearly an angel. Bailey and Cramp (1988, 71) noted the central folds of his garment, ending in a loop, as a form of pallium portrayed in the same manner as on the Bewcastle cross: they suggested this was either a deterioration in the portrayal of classical dress or an attempt to emphasise the scarf-like nature of the pallium. It appears that this arrangement is found in Anglo-Saxon sculpture only at Bewcastle and Dewsbury, and at Dewsbury it is a degree more stylised than at Bewcastle.

The figure at the foot of, or in front of, the angel is certainly an enigmatic figure in its present isolation, no other part of this cross-head having survived. Collingwood (1915a, 165) does not come to any clear conclusion as to the identity of this scene: although he noted that St Christopher bearing the Christ Child on his shoulders had been mentioned, he was clearly sceptical, clearly considering the only safe comparison was with the similarly enigmatic group from Otley (no. 1cAv, Ills. 575–6), and one from Halton, Lancashire (Collingwood 1927, 74, fig. 92; see Ill. 870) . A more obvious explanation is certainly open for the Dewsbury piece, however, which would also fit with its position on the cross-head. Surely it is a representation of St Matthew accompanied by his man/ angel Evangelist symbol? This pairing is not unprecedented: a pair of half figures in the lower arm of the head of the Ruthwell cross (the north face as presently reconstructed) have been identified as Matthew accompanied by his symbol (Cramp 1978b, 118, pl. VIII). At Dewsbury, the figure is shown with a scroll and probably a tonsure, as in the mid-eighth-century Stockholm Codex Aureus, fol. 9v (Wilson 1984, ill. 102).[2] The position, directly behind the apostle, however, is as in the Lindisfarne Gospels (Kendrick et al. 1959–60, 149–51, 158–61, pl. 22c). There has been much discussion about this arrangement and its origins, but the suggestion by M. Brown (2003, 359) that 'accompanied' Evangelist portraits in the Lindisfarne Gospels and in the Book of Cerne 'simultaneously symbolise Christ, the Gospel writers, the scribe who faithfully transmits the scriptures and the aspirations of the faithful' (see Brown 1996, 82–114; id. 2003, 359–63), could equally apply to similar pairings on crosses from a period in which considerable research supports their liturgical and didactic function. However, in a Psalter of c. 800 from Corbie in northern France, psalm 1, fol. 1, which begins with the word 'Beatus', the initial B is historiated (Dodwell 1993, 76, pl. 64). [3] In the upper part is seated a scribe with pen and book, and a bird on his shoulder, which if an eagle would imply St John, but if a dove, this could represent the Holy Spirit inspiring the psalmist (Ill. 862). In the lower part an angel with a staff cross hovers over, and lays his hand on the head of, a kneeling figure, without scroll or book, who looks up to him. The first two verses of the psalm are: 'Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers: but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night'. Faithful transmission of and adherence to the Law are implied by either interpretation.

The two small panels on face D are the only trace of animal ornament at Dewsbury. The small animal seen from above, slight and stiff though it is, links this sculpture with other great works of the late eighth to early ninth century, such as the Rothbury cross, Northumberland (Cramp 1984, 217–21, pl. 215.1224), the St Petersburg [Leningrad] Gospels (Alexander 1978, cat. 39), and the Gandersheim casket (Webster and Backhouse 1991, cat. 138). Closer to home, however, are the works of the 'Uredale master', Ilkley 2 (Ills. 357–60) and Cundall/Aldborough 1, face Ciii (Lang 2001, ill. 162), which both feature this type.

Late eighth to early ninth century

Whitaker 1816, I, 301, pl. between 300/1; Whitaker 1859, 153–4, fig. facing 154; Robinson, J. 1872, 10, fig. on 8; Allen 1890, 310; Allen 1891, 162, no. 2; Collingwood 1912, 113, 129; Collingwood 1915a, 165–7, 278, figs. g–h on 166; Collingwood 1927, 74, fig. 73g–h; Collingwood 1929, 25–6, 29, figs. g–h on 26; Pevsner 1959, 179; Cramp 1967, 30, cat. 56, ill. on 30; Cramp 1970, 58, Taf. 46.6; Wood, I. 1987, 35; Bailey and Cramp 1988, 71, ill. 674; Lang 1990a, 14; Cramp 1992, 58, pl. 12.3; Sidebottom 1994, 87–8, 245, no. 5, and pls.; Cramp 1995, 132; Cramp 1999, 9; Henderson 1999, 154–5, 173; Hadley 2000a, 248; Hawkes 2003b, 366; Hawkes 2006a, 110

[1] The following are general references to the Dewsbury stones: Hunter 1834, 149–68; Nichols 1836, 39; Haigh 1857, 155n; Hübner 1876, 63, no. 173; Browne 1885–6, 128; Allen 1889, 129, 213, 217–18, 220, 222; Allen 1890, 293; Fowler 1903, 128; MacMichael 1906, 360–1; Morris 1911, 46, 174–5; Lethaby 1913, 158–9; Collingwood 1915b, 334; Glynne 1917a, 191; Collingwood 1923, 7; Collingwood 1927, 6–7, 33, 74, 109, 116, fig. 13(6); Collingwood 1929, 17, 22, 24, 28–9, 30, 33, fig. on 28; Collingwood 1932, 51, 53; Elgee and Elgee 1933, 196, fig. 36; Mee 1941, 119; Pevsner 1959, 20, 179; Cramp 1978a, 9; Faull 1981, 218; Ryder 1991, 20; Ryder 1993, 18, 149; Sidebottom 1994, 87–8, 156; Page 1995, 298; Lang and Wrathmell 1997, 375; Hadley 2000a, 248; Butler 2006, 93.

[2] Stockholm, Kungl. Biblioteket MS A. 135.

[3] Amiens, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 18.