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Object type: Upper arm of cross-head [1]
Measurements: Inaccessible, not known
Stone type: Not accessed; ?Millstone Grit
Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 464, 496-8, 500
Corpus volume reference: Vol 9 p. 192-3
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Upper arm of cross of type D9
A (broad, west): The upper area of the arm, above the armpit curve, is surrounded by a border moulding. Within is a neat eight-strand basketwork plait. Below, in the curve of the arm, the decoration is divided into three areas by two vertical mouldings; the central area thus defined appears to carry bosses.
B (narrow, south): The upper element of the head is surrounded by a relief border in which is set a key pattern forming a St Andrew's cross with pellets set between the crossing lines.
C (broad, east): Within the residual forms of vertical and top borders there are traces of unidentifiable knotwork.
D (narrow, north): As face B
The decorative scheme of this head is not easy to parallel. A marked division separating the ornament on the upper arm from other parts of the cross-head is not a normal feature of English sculpture, where forms tend to flow from one arm to another, or co-exist without a panel division. Only the ninth-century cross at Irton in Cumbria and another at Weyhill in southern England seem to provide analogies (Bailey and Cramp 1988, ill. 361; Tweddle et al. 1995, ill. 473). It may be significant that Irton has been seen as reflecting Irish tastes, for somewhat similar divisions do occur in Irish sculpture (Harbison 1992, ii, figs. 101, 103, 105, 110, 239, 516, 554, 575, 580, 596).
The restoration overseen by Calverley in 1890/91 suggested that the vertical mouldings below the horizontal boundary line were part of a cruciform motif formed by open sub-rectangular arms. As a basic interpretation this is entirely plausible, but it is clear that there was further decoration within the mouldings. This type of outlined cruciform decoration on a cross-head is close to the variant known from Hexham and Ripon, whilst Jarrow 9 offers another more distant parallel (Cambridge and Williams 1995, 108–9, fig. 33; Coatsworth 2008, ill. 639; Cramp 1984, 109, fig. 12; Bailey 2003, figs. 13, 14). None of these were, however, as elaborate as this Lancashire example. These analogues would imply a relatively early date.
