The Corpus: Chester (St John) 3

Volume 9: Cheshire and Lancashire

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Current Display: Chester (St John) 3, Cheshire

Overview

Object type: Part of shaft [1]

Measurements: H. 53 cm (21 in); W. at base 55.5 cm (21.75 in); D. 20 cm (8 in)

Stone type: Pale red (5R 6/2), medium- to coarse-grained (0.3 to 0.6 mm, but mostly medium-grained between 0.4 and 0.5 mm), sub-angular to sub-rounded, clast-supported, quartz sandstone; one angular black ?chert pebbles 7 mm across. Chester Pebble Beds Formation?, Sherwood Sandstone Group, Triassic

Plate numbers in printed volume: Ills. 85-8

Corpus volume reference: Vol 9 p. 64-5

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Present Location

As Chester (St John) 1

Evidence for Discovery

See Chester (St John) 1a-b; possibly the 'flat stone' discovered in 1861 ((—) 1864, 402).

Church Dedication

St John

Present Condition

Face D is almost completely lost and C is badly battered.

Description

A (broad): This rapidly tapering shaft fragment has a broad undecorated base. The single panel of relief ornament above is flanked laterally by a flat cable-moulding border, well distant from the edge of the stone. Decoration consists of a median-incised eight-strand plait, the two outer turns pointed, set over two horizontal row of flat rectangular bosses. Between the plait and bosses is an arched area on which are traces of a further row of bosses.

B (narrow): Within the broad flat border is a panel decorated with single chevrons, carved in relief and set one above the other.

C (broad): A corded moulding border, set within the lateral arris border, frames a bold median-incised plait of unidentifiable type.

D (narrow): A fragment of median-incised strand survives at the bottom of the shaft; otherwise all other decoration has been worn away.

Discussion

The ornament on this shaft links it to the circle-head group (see Chapter V, p. 31). It is clearly closely related to Chester St John 1 in both its shape and elements of its decoration: squat and rapidly tapering shaft; broad undecorated base; rows of pellets set under median-incised interlace. The chevrons on face B were planned elsewhere in the group, on Chester St John 6: they also appear on two tenth- or eleventh-century carvings in Yorkshire (York Coppergate 1 and Kirby Sigston 5 — Lang 1991, ills. 334, 335; id. 2001, ill. 382).

Date

Tenth or eleventh century

References

Browne 1887b, 149; Allen 1895, 143–4, 151, fig. facing 156 (lower right); Bu'lock 1959, 6, 10; Thacker 1987, 288, Thacker 2005, 126, fig. 68

Endnotes

[1] The following are general references to the Chester St John stones: (–) 1864; Ormerod 1875–82, I, 317–18; Browne 1887b, 148–9; (–) 1888a, 211; (–) 1891b, 113–15; Scott 1892, 5; Glynne 1893, 144; Allen 1894, 4, 8, 9; Allen 1895, 135, 143, figs. facing 156; (–) 1910, 160–2, fig. facing 161; Collingwood 1926b, 378; Collingwood 1927a, 82, 143; Nash-Williams 1950, 129; Webster, G. 1951, 46; Rosser 1958, 142; Sylvester and Nulty 1958, 14; Bu'lock 1959; Pevsner and Hubbard 1971, 13; Bu'lock 1972, 82; Bailey 1980, 177–82; Bailey 1984, 16–18; Fellows-Jensen 1985, 402; Thacker 1987, 279, 288; Bailey and Cramp 1988, 31–2; Gelling 1992, 187–9; Higham, N. 1993b, 129; Bailey 1994, 119; Bailey 1996a, 53; Bailey 1996b, 30–1; Austin 1999, 81; Bailey 2003, 223; Blair 2005, 309–10; Thacker 2005; Mason 2007, 122, 123; Redknap and Lewis 2007, 449; Coatsworth 2008, 158. The following are unpublished manuscript references: BL Add. MS 37547, items 692–5 (Romilly Allen collection).