The Corpus: Whalley 10

Volume 9: Cheshire and Lancashire

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Current Display: Whalley 10, Lancashire

Overview

Object type: Part of cross-head [1]

Measurements: H. 30.5 cm (12 in); W. 31 cm (12.25 in); D. 11.5 cm (4.5 in)

Stone type: Greyish orange (10YR 7/4), medium-grained, clast-supported, quartz sandstone. The clasts range from medium-grained (0.3 mm) to very coarse-grained (2.0 mm), but are mostly medium- to coarse-grained in the range 0.4 to 1.0 mm. The clasts vary from sub-angular to sub-rounded. Millstone Grit, Carboniferous

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 697-700

Corpus volume reference: Vol 9 p. 251-2

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Present Location

Blackburn Museum; once in Whalley vestry. No accession details are available.

Evidence for Discovery

Possibly to be identified with the 'cross head now in the vestry' of Wallis (1921, 11), but see Whalley 11.

Church Dedication

St Mary

Present Condition

Reverse heavily worn, lower arm lost

Description

Cross-head of type E10 with short arms

A (broad): The head is surrounded by a roll-moulding border and at the centre is a large near-conical boss, some 4 cm high. This is surrounded by badly laid-out knotwork, consisting of two-strand twist linking each arm, with bar terminals and an additional short crossing strand below each twist, creating an impression of complexity.

B (narrow): The end of the arm carries two interlinked ovals, formed by median-incised strands, set in a framing moulding.

C (broad): The battered remains of a roll moulding surround the head and at the centre is a worn flat boss. Within the arms is irregular knotwork of the same type as on face A.

D (narrow): Traces of median-incised knotwork, possibly forming a triquetra or Stafford knot, survive within a framing moulding.

Discussion

The interlinked oval shapes suggest a late date and the conical boss is typical of this area (see Colne 1 and 2, and Whalley 3: Ills. 445, 447–50, 675–8). The shape of the head — a form of E10 — carries Viking-age ornament elsewhere (e.g. in Yorkshire: Lang 2001, ills. 272, 389, 457, 709).

Date

Tenth or eleventh century

References

?Wallis 1921, 11; Edwards, B. 1978a, 74; Edwards, B. 1989b, 31–2, fig. 3 (I); Edwards, B. 1992, 58; Edwards, B. 1998, 86; Reeder 1999, 19, fig. 11; Noble 2004, 79, fig. 95

Endnotes

[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.