Set on top of Whalley 1.

The earliest direct evidence for the present association with Whalley 1 is provided by the engraving in Whitaker's 1801 publication (Whitaker 1800–1, pl. IV). Though it might be identified with 'the top stone of one of [the crosses which] was taken from the chancel of the church' ((—) 1885b, 228), this description is more likely to refer to the late medieval cross-head which is now set on top of Whalley 4, because another source clearly states that this latter came from the east wall of the chancel (Whitaker 1872–6, I, 15).

St Mary

The upper and lateral cross-arms have been lost; face C is worn; otherwise good.

A (broad, east): The remains of the shaft on this face show broad flat-moulding borders flanking a meander pattern. The surviving lower arm of the head is fan-shaped with its curved terminal forming a border with the top of the shaft (type E9). At the centre of the head was a boss with a hole pierced in its centre. The lower arm is decorated by strands which flank the border and join in an arrow-like form at the centre.

B (narrow, north): A bold roll-moulding runs up the centre of the shaft and terminates in a boss just below the cross-arm.

C (broad, west): The borders on the shaft and head are as on face A but the boss on the cross-head is much more conical than on the other side and seemingly lacked any drilled hole. There is a vertical moulding springing from the boss into the fragmentary remains of the upper arm, whilst the lower arm carries an angular version of a triquetra whose crossing strands meet in a flat boss. The decoration on the shaft is now uncertain but is likely to have been some form of meander pattern.

D (narrow, south): As face B

Collingwood (1927a, fig. 132) suggested that this head belonged with Whalley 1. There is no reason to accept this. Rather, its associations are with the group formed by Whalley 3, Bolton le Moors 1 and 7 and the Anderton carving (see Chapter V, p. 37). With Whalley 3 it shares the arrow-like key pattern on the head (Ill. 677) and the mouldings ending in a boss of faces B and D (Ills. 676, 678), whilst the shaft pattern on face A appears to be a version of the variant meander pattern employed on Anderton 1 and Bolton 1 (Ills. 402, 411). The form of head falls into the 'penannular' group so popular in the Pennine area (see Chapter V, p. 33).

Tenth century

(See Whalley 1 above); Whitaker 1800–1, 31–3, pl. IV facing 31; Whitaker 1818, 49–51, pl. IV facing 51; Whitaker 1872–6, II, pl. facing 1; Allen and Browne 1885, 355; Browne 1885b, 156–7, pl. IV; Allen 1886, 328; Browne 1887a, 13, pl. VI, figs. 10, 11; Allen 1894, 9; Allen 1895, 143; Taylor, H. 1900, 14, 15, 17–19, pl. facing 18; Taylor-Taswell 1905, 10, pl. facing 101; Garstang 1906, 265; Taylor, H. 1906, 4, pl. facing 79 (A); Ditchfield 1909, 115–16, pl. facing 114; Whickham 1915, 172; (—) 1921a, pl. facing 190; Wallis 1921a, 11; Collingwood 1927a, 107, fig. 132 upper left; ?Collingwood 1929, 46; Brown, G. 1937, 274; Taylor, H. M. 1970b, 281; Edwards, B. 1978a, 73; Edwards, B. 1989a, 6, 7, 8, figs. 1, 3–5; Edwards, B. 1989b, 24–5, fig. 1 (B); Kenyon 1991, 99; Edwards, B. 1992, 58; Edwards, B. 1998, 85–6, fig. 42; Reeder 1999, 20, fig. 13; Noble 2004, 76, fig. 92a; Coatsworth 2008, 42, 266

[1]. The following are general references to the Whalley stones: Whitaker 1800–1, 31–2, 33, 37, 297; Whitaker 1818, 49–51, 250; Baines 1831–6, III, 178–9, 383; Baines 1868–70, II, 8; Whitaker 1872–6, I, 69, 71, II, 15, 157, 557, pl. facing 1; Croston 1884a, 4–5; Croston 1884b, 3; (–––) 1885b, 228; Allen and Browne 1885, 355; Browne 1885b, 156–7; Browne 1887a, 12–14; Jackson 1889, 34; Glynne 1893, 79; Harrison 1896, 4; Howarth 1899, 9; Farrer and Brownbill 1911c, 355; Fishwick and Ditchfield 1909, I, 5; Wallis 1921; Brown, G. 1937, 274; Tupling 1948, 6, 8; Edwards, B. 1975; Edwards, B. 1978a, 72–5; Fellows-Jensen 1985, 407; Edwards, B. 1992, 58; Panikkar 1994, 20; Crosby 1998, 30; Noble 2004, 75–81.

The following are unpublished manuscript references: BL Add. MS 37550, items 724–35; BL Add. MS 37551, items 76–9; Lancashire Record Office, DP 291/61–62 and 292/1; Lancashire Record Office DP 386/8.