The Corpus: Whalley 13

Volume 9: Cheshire and Lancashire

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Current Display: Whalley 13, Lancashire

Overview

Object type: Socket-stone [1] [2]

Measurements: H. 43 cm (17 in); W. 85 > 77 cm (33.5 > 30.5 in); D. 62 > 52 cm (24.5 > 20.5 in)

Stone type: Yellowish grey (5Y 7/2), clast-supported, medium-grained (0.3 m) 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: Ills. 702-5

Corpus volume reference: Vol 9 p. 253

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Present Location

Socket for shaft Whalley 3 in Whalley churchyard, south of nave

Evidence for Discovery

See Whalley 1. Certainly in position by 1822 — see drawings by W. Latham in Lancashire Record Office DP 291/61–62 and 292/1 (Edwards, B. 1989a, fig. 4). Probably to be identified with the socket shown in J. M. Turner's illustration published by Whitaker (1800–1, II, pl. 1).

Church Dedication

St Mary

Present Condition

Fair

Description

This roughly-squared stone narrows from top to bottom on all faces. The top of the stone has been worked so as to leave a flat area surrounding a raised moulding which immediately surrounds the socket; this carries a (now worn) run of dogtooth ornament carved in relief.

Discussion

Edwards (B. 1989b, 27) rightly warns that the ornament on this stone could have been carved in later imitation of a motif on the shaft Whalley 3 (Ills. 675–6), but it seems likely that this socket was part of the original monument. Similar ornament is found on a socket-stone from Bromborough in Cheshire (no. 9) and, in a variant manner, on the Anderton shaft (Ills. 55, 398, 401).

Date

Tenth or eleventh century

References

(See Whalley 3 above); Garstang 1906, pl. facing 264; Taylor, H. 1906, 79, pl. facing 78; Wallis 1921, 12; Taylor, H. M. 1970b, 281; Edwards, B. 1975, 71; Edwards, B. 1978a, 73; Firby and Lang 1981, 28; Edwards, B. 1989a, figs. 4, 5; Edwards, B. 1989b, 27, fig. 2; Edwards, B. 1998, 80, fig. 39; Reeder 1999, fig. 15; Noble 2004, 76, fig. 92b

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.

[2]. The following are unpublished manuscript references to no. 13: Lancashire Record Office DP 291/61–62 and 292/1.