The Corpus: Whalley 12

Volume 9: Cheshire and Lancashire

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Current Display: Whalley 12, Lancashire

Overview

Object type: Part of cross-head [1]

Measurements: H. 25 cm (10 in); W. 43 cm (17 in); D. Built in

Stone type: Yellowish grey (5Y 7/2), poorly sorted, clast-supported, medium-grained (0.3 mm) to very coarse-grained (2.0 mm), but mostly medium- to coarse-grained between 0.4 and 1.0 mm, quartz sandstone; scattered small flakes of white mica. The clasts vary from sub-angular to sub-rounded. Millstone Grit, Carboniferous

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ill. 701

Corpus volume reference: Vol 9 p. 252-3

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Present Location

Set externally in the wall between the porch and the first window to the east, behind the down-pipe, at a height of c. 3.2 m (10 ft 6 in).

Evidence for Discovery

Probably noted by Willis (1921, 11) under his description of 'two similar pieces in the wall of the south aisle, outside, just to the east of the porch'.

Church Dedication

St Mary

Present Condition

The surface is badly abraded.

Description

All that survives is the central element and one arm of a head of type A10 with wide curved armpits and squared terminals; no decoration is visible.

Discussion

Heads of this shape certainly occur in Yorkshire in pre-Viking contexts at sites like Forcett, Lythe and Whitby but they are all much smaller (Lang 2001, ills. 254, 490, 897, 900, 927). Lack of border moulding might suggest that this carving is of post-Conquest date.

Date

Uncertain, possibly eleventh century

References

Wallis 1921, 11; Edwards, B. 1989b, 30

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The following are unpublished manuscript references: BL Add.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.