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Object type: Cross-head and part of -shaft in two joining pieces [1]
Measurements:
a (head): H. 65 cm (25.5 in); W. 52 cm (20.5 in); D. 18 cm (7.5 in)
b (shaft): H. 22 cm (8.75 in); W. 22 cm (8.75 in); D. 18 cm (7.5 in)
Stone type:
a (head): Pale red (5R 6/2), fine- to coarse-grained (0.2 to 0.6 mm, but mostly medium-grained between 0.3 and 0.5 mm), sub-angular to sub-rounded, clast-supported, quartz sandstone; a few small, scattered black ?chert pebbles up to 8 mm across.
b (shaft): Pale red (5R 6/2), medium- to coarse-grained (0.3 to 0.7 mm, but mostly medium-grained between 0.4 and 0.5 mm), sub-angular to sub-rounded, clast-supported, quartz sandstone; a few small, scattered black ?chert pebbles up to 7 mm across. Both pieces: Chester Pebble Beds Formation?, Sherwood Sandstone Group, Triassic
Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 81-4
Corpus volume reference: Vol 9 p. 63-4
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Circle-head with unpierced spandrels; cross type B11
A (broad): The head, with upper protruding 'ear' lost, is decorated in relief. At the centre is an encircled and hollowed boss. Abutting this, and overlying the borders of the arms, are spandrel bosses, each with a drilled hole and surrounded by a ring. The arms are filled with median-incised triquetra. The circle of the head carries a (now worn) two-strand twist or corded moulding, framed by roll-moulding borders. The remains of the shaft has a vertical inner border within the roll-moulding arris; this flanks median-incised knotwork (virtually 'stopped-plait') of now-unidentifiable type; BL Add. MS 37547, items 692–3, show this ornament as eight-strand plait.
B (narrow): The edge of the circle is decorated by a triple moulding within the roll-moulding borders; the central moulding is broad whilst the other two are corded. On the end of the cross-arm are four horizontal rows of three rectangular pellets. A panel of type 3 meander pattern, composed of median-incised strands, decorates the shaft; this is set inside an inner frame which is flanked by the roll-moulding arris.
C (broad): The upper part of the head has been lost. The circle is decorated in relief by a two-strand twist or corded moulding set within roll-moulding borders. At the centre of the head is a hollowed boss surrounded by a ring and a further circle. The spandrel bosses are plain and do not, as on face A, overlap the borders of the arms; these latter carry triquetra. The shaft is ornamented with median-incised interlace of a now-unidentifiable kind within a frame flanked by the roll-moulding border; BL Add. MS 37547, items 692–3 and Ellis' drawing in Allen (1895) shows this decoration as eight-strand plait.
D (narrow): The circle is decorated as on face B. On the end of the left arm is a framed panel containing two horizontal rows of three large pellets. A panel of type 3 meander pattern, composed of median-incised strands, decorates the shaft.
Circle-head (see Chapter V, p. 31). Though not exactly identical in decoration, this shaft is closely related to Chester St John 1. With Chester (St John)1 it shares unpierced (encircled) spandrels with bosses, a hollowed and encircled central boss, triquetra in the arms, rows of bosses on the ends of arms, double borders and meander patterns on the edge of the shaft. It is difficult to believe that the two are not by the same hand.
