Lost; stolen from St Peter's church in 1994/5 (information: Dr Andrew White).

First recorded on the boundary wall in 1903 (Taylor, H. 1903, 92–3).

St Peter and St Patrick

When last recorded only the central part of the head and the stubs of the arms remained.

Cross-head, probably of type 9 or 10

A (broad): Six pellets, set around a seventh, are set within a circular moulding. In the lower arm are fragmentary remains of the border moulding, together with zigzag (or triangular cell) ornament set alongside a vertical stem leading up to the central ring. In the other remaining arms, there are traces of an equivalent stem.

B and D (narrow): No information available

C (broad): No image has been traced of this face, but it is reported to have carried an encircled boss, possibly surrounded by smaller bosses.

This fragment belongs to a group of metalwork-influenced pieces which have been the subject of several recent discussions (see Chapter IV, p. 25: Cramp 1984, 109; Harbison 1992, i, 345–51; Cambridge and Williams 1995, 111–12; Lang 1991, 43–4, 183; Bailey 1996b, 38–41; id. 2003, 232).

Zigzag ornament, forming triangular cells, appears early in stone sculpture at Ripon and Jarrow (Coatsworth 2008, 239, ill. 667; Cramp 1984, 109, pl. 93.497–8; Cambridge and Williams 1995, 110–11). It also figures in Anglo-Saxon and Merovingian metalwork of seventh- to ninth-century date, including the Ripon disc (Hall et al. 1999; Duval et al. 1991, 311). On cross-heads found in this region it occurs again in the Lune valley at Hornby 1 and 2 as well as Lancaster Vicarage Field 4 (Ills. 549, 553–4, 619); other examples come from Lastingham, Northallerton, Jarrow, Carlisle, Ripon and Hexham (Lang 1991, ill. 622; id. 2001, ill. 673; Cramp 1984, pl. 93.497; Bailey and Cramp 1988, ill. 210; Coatsworth 2006, 20, 22; id. 2008, ills. 637, 667; Cambridge and Williams 1995, fig. 33). This catalogue of names clearly includes many of the major early monastic sites of Northumbria.

At Northallerton, Lancaster and Carlisle the decoration, as here at Heysham, is built around what Collingwood (1913) called the 'lorgnette' or 'spine-and-boss' form in which some form of 'spine' leads out to a boss (or other) termination in the arm of the cross. Without the flanking zigzag, this head-pattern began early and continued well into the Viking period in a variety of forms (Bailey and Cramp 1988, 33–6, 86; Lang 2001, 43–4; see Halton St Wilfrid 8 and Bolton le Moors 1, Ills. 411, 496). But, in combination with zigzag ornament, it is likely to be of pre-Viking date. Cambridge, indeed, has argued, on various grounds — including the use of associated baluster decoration at Jarrow — for a seventh- or eighth-century date for many of those cited (Cambridge and Williams 1995, 112). The head from Northallerton provides the closest parallel to this Heysham carving in its combination of a central group of encircled bosses, spine-and-boss ornament and zigzag ornament; this is assigned to the eighth century by Lang (2001, 182–3, ill. 673), and the Lancashire example must belong to the same period.

The seven bosses within a circle are repeated on a cross-head further up the Lune valley at Gressingham and also on the carving from Capernwray Hall, which may originally have come from Lancaster (Ills. 434–5, 472). Similar clusters of seven bosses at the centre of the cross-head are found again at Brigham in Cumberland (Bailey and Cramp 1988, ill. 147), Kirby Hill in Yorkshire (Lang 2001, ill. 349), in Scotland at Tarbat (Allen and Anderson 1903, iii, fig. 91) and on at least six of the Irish crosses (Harbison 1992, ii, figs. 99, 239, 346, 629; de Paor 1987, 145). A further grouping of seven, though disposed in a different manner and not on the front of the cross-head, occurs on carvings at Clonmacnoise in Ireland, and Rosemarkie, Nigg, Meigle, and Iona in Scotland (Harbison 1992, ii, fig. 142; Allen and Anderson 1903, iii, figs. 60, 72, 345, 399). Though this total number of bosses forms an aesthetically satisfying pattern it probably also carried Christian significance. Augustine, in his Letter LV which was the source of much subsequent medieval numerological scholarship, described it as signifying perfection (Daur 2004, 241), whilst Bede's works frequently evoke the importance of the numeral, including its eschatological significance as signifying the seventh age of the world, the rest period of eternity which will culminate in the final resurrection (Jones, C. 1969–70, 170; O'Reilly 1994, 352–3; Veelenturf 2001, 216; see also Ó Carragáin 1988, 16–19).

If the ornament on face C is correctly recorded as employing a circle of bosses then, like the analogous motif on the Irton cross in Cumberland, it reflects metalwork prototypes such as the Cuthbert pectoral cross (Bailey and Cramp 1988, ill. 361; Webster and Backhouse 1991, no. 98).

Eighth century

Taylor, H. 1903, 92–3, pl. facing 93; Taylor, H. 1906, 384–5, pl. facing 385; Grafton 1909, pl. facing 218; (—) 1923, 288; Collingwood 1925, 81; Collingwood 1927a, 95, fig. 128; Collingwood 1927b, 176–7, fig. 2; Collingwood 1932, 48; Hogarth 1934, 40; Taylor, H. M. 1970c, 287; Bu'lock 1974a, 35; Edwards, B. 1978a, 61; Bailey and Cramp 1988, 13, 36, 86, 117; Cramp 1994, 112, 114, 115; Bailey 1996b, 38, fig. 5a; Hall et al. 1999, 279; Noble 1999, 19; Lang 2001, 41, 183; Bailey 2003, 232, fig. 13a; White, A. 2003b, 6; Coatsworth 2008, 68, 235; Bailey 2009, 26, fig. 8

[1] The difficulties of distinguishing between the original provenances of sculpture from this site have been emphasised by recent excavations (Potter and Andrews 1994, 104, and fig. 2). The following list therefore combines material from both St Peter's church and St Patrick's chapel.

[2] The following are general references to the Heysham stones: Robson 1850, 28; Jackson 1889, 33; Allen 1894, 4, 8; Micklethwaite 1898, 348–9; Taylor, H. 1898, 42; Howarth 1899, 9, 21; Nicholson 1899, 21; Grafton 1904; Ditchfield 1909, 117; Grafton 1909; Farrer and Brownbill 1914, 110; (–––) 1923, 288; Curwen 1925, 30; Collingwood 1927a, 15; Hogarth 1934; Bu'lock 1972, 67; Fellows-Jensen 1985, 402, 405; Crosby 1998, 30; Higham, N. 2004a, 27; Blair 2005, 216, 218, 309, 376, 457; Salter 2005, 42; Newman, R. M. 2006, 103.

The following are unpublished manuscript references: BL Add. MS 37550, items 617–46, 735–6; BL Add. MS 37551, items 72–5; Lancaster Public Library, no. PT 7; Manchester Public Library, Hibbert Ware S. MSS: Msf 091 H21, V, 64 (no. 5), 82 (no. 1); vol. 8, 98v. For the Hibbert Ware collection see Henry and Trench-Jellicoe (2005, 239–60).