Cemented against internal north wall of church tower, below Halton (St Wilfrid) 4 and 5

First recorded in 1886 as built into the west wall of the south porch; this re-use probably dates to the restoration of 1876–7 (Allen 1886, 337–8; Browne 1887a, 10; Calverley 1899a, 189). Removed from the porch wall in 1890 and placed as the lowest element of the present composite shaft in 1890/91 (Calverley 1899a, 184–5, 189).

St Wilfrid

Face A (broad) survives complete on both fragments. Face C is lost and only part of faces B and D remain.

Both fragments are framed laterally by a cable-moulding border.

3a. Upper shaft

A (broad): Parts of two panels survive, divided by a horizontal border consisting of pellets flanked by framing lines. (i) In the upper panel is a (now largely lost) arched frame with slab capitals and bases. Within is a haloed human figure, probably seated, dressed in a full-length costume from which his feet emerge to touch the bottom of the frame. With his left hand he holds a book across his chest whilst his right hand holds a rod, with an expanded (possibly cruciform) terminal, resting on his knee and passing onto his right shoulder. There is a U-shaped fold of the garment between the knees. The figure has a short 'classical' hairstyle and well-modelled eyes, brow and nose. (ii) Only part of the curve of the arched frame of the panel below survives; this is formed by pellets flanked by bordering mouldings. Traces of a halo and the head of the figure set within this arch are just visible.

B (narrow): Traces of a heavily modelled, but no longer identifiable, feature

C (broad): Lost

D (narrow): All that remains is an inner vertical border next to the cable-moulding arris. Within this are traces of interlace turns.

3b. Lower shaft

A (broad): Parts of two panels survive. (iii) The upper panel is set within an arched frame with slab capitals and bases; the arch carries pellet decoration. Within this frame is a (probably seated) figure, forward-facing with halo and a moulding flanking the shoulders and body ('Halton outline moulding' — see Bromborough 2 above, p. 184). Across his knees, and occupying the width of the frame, is a large rectangular object (?opened and displayed book). The U-shaped folds of the drapery between the knees are visible below, as is the continuation of the shoulder moulding; his feet, with raised heels, stand on the frame. Crouched before him in the lower left corner is a small figure, his or her head placed below the knees of the larger figure and with hands reaching to cover the face. (iv) Part of another arch, formed by pellets flanked by framing mouldings, is visible below; a single ?human head remains from the decoration.

B and D (narrow): No decoration survives.

C (broad): Lost

Like most of the Halton carvings, this shaft has cable mouldings and, in common with Halton St Wilfrid 1, 2, 4 and 9, employs beaded borders and arches (see Chapter IV, p. 21). Stepped slab capitals are discussed under Hornby 3 (p. 215), but, apart from a rather fanciful rendering at Easby, the form seen here with a single slab is not otherwise well evidenced in sculpture outside Halton (nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), though it is known in Anglo-Saxon architecture (Lang 2001, ills. 195, 196; Taylor, H. M. 1978, 1052–5). It here presumably represents a simplification of more ambitious forms.

The combination of scenes on this fragment exactly matches that on Halton St Wilfrid 5 (Ill. 489). In both cases the two surviving panels are probably to be read as apocalyptic Last Judgement scenes, the elements abstracted from more complex depictions in order to fit the requirements of a narrow cross-shaft. The iconography does not seem to support Lang's identification of these Halton carvings as 'apostle shafts' associated with baptism (Lang 1999; id. 2000, 116–17).

The upper panel with its seated haloed figure depicts Christ the Judge or Christ at the Second Coming (Ill. 481; Brenk 1966, 68–9; Christe 1973, 53–4). The distinction between the two is far from clear-cut, since scenes of Christ as Judge and Christ at the Second Coming share the same eschatological concept and visually have many features in common (Harbison 1992, i, 296–8). This identification of Judge or Second Coming would, admittedly, be more certain if a cruciform head to Christ's rod were now as clear as it appeared to both Collingwood and Browne, though Christ carrying a sceptre topped by a knop is known in these iconographies (Christe 1973, 56). Within the classification of Christe (1973, 9–10), this Halton composition can be grouped with her Type 3a: the seated static Majesty.

The Halton figure holds a book as well as the rod/cross. This combination of attributes is closely paralleled in the S. Gall Gospels in which a forward-facing bust of Christ, with cross and book and flanked by angels, is set at the centre of the apostles; this has been interpreted as a Judgement scene but Brenk has argued that it more properly represents the related Second Coming (Alexander 1978, ill. 206; Brenk 1966, 68–9; Christe 1973, 53–4). In such contexts the cross is the resurrection cross, the sign of the Son of Man of Matthew XXIV, 30, whilst the book is the Book of Life (Revelation V, 8; XX, 12); both are carried by Christ in other triumphal scenes.

The identification of the upper scene as that of Christ's Second Coming or Christ as Judge is in part dependent upon the scene below (Ills. 481, 483) which shows an angel holding an open book (once presumably carrying a painted inscription) with a kneeling figure below; his wings are represented by a 'Halton outline moulding' (see discussion of no. 2 above, p. 184). The book is a persistent theme in Judgement scenes — witness its appearance on Muiredach's cross at Monasterboice or the New Minster Liber Vitae (Harbison 1992, iii, fig. 940; Temple 1976, ill. 248) — but it is rarely given such prominence as here. Equally unusual is the seeming seated position of the angel. More commonly in encounters with mankind he stands, holding his rod of authority with the supplicating figure kneeling below him: this is the composition seen on Yorkshire crosses of the ninth century at Dewsbury and Otley and in a Davidic scene in the Corbie Psalter which is contemporary with them (Cramp 1970, 58–9; Wood 1987, 30–2; Coatsworth 2008, ills. 220, 575; Hubert et al. 1969, pl. 204; Pulliam 2000, 25–6; see Chapter IV, p. 21). A known worshipping or supplication type has thus probably been adopted here to a judgemental context.[2]

If the sheep scene of Halton St Wilfrid 7 belongs with this total composition, as argued by Collingwood (1927a, 92), Potts (1982, 19) and Lang (1999, 279; 2000, 118) then it could represent the witnesses, the sheep separated from the goats or, more likely, a version of the apostles as sheep (see Halton 7 below, Ill. 494). Such dramatic small-scale scenes, which also figure on Halton St Wilfrid 4, have rightly been related to Carolingian ivories and manuscript depictions (Cramp 1970, 61–2).

A date in the very late eighth or ninth century would best fit Brenk's observation that it was only in the late eighth century that interest in the Last Judgement and its pictorial representation began to increase (Brenk 1966, 107–30). It would also fit well with the smaller dramatic scenes of Halton St Wilfrid 7 if they are part of the same shaft.

Late eighth or ninth century

Allen and Browne 1885, 355; Allen 1886, 337, 338, fig. facing 334; Browne 1887a, 10, pl. IV, figs. 4, 6; Allen 1894, 25; Allen 1895, 161; Calverley 1899a, 189; Taylor, H. 1903, 88–9, pl. facing 87; Collingwood 1904a, 332; Garstang 1906, 267; Taylor, H. 1906, 379–81, pl. facing 379; Collingwood 1915, 165; Collingwood 1916–18, 45–6, fig. 21 (a, b); (—) 1923, 287; Collingwood 1927a, 74, fig. 92 (a, b); Collingwood 1929, 29; Collingwood 1932, 53; Routh 1937, 20, 26; Cramp 1965, 12; Cramp 1967, 30; Pevsner 1969b, 136; Cramp 1970, 58–9, 61–2, Taf. 48 (2); Taylor, H. M. 1970d, 287; Edwards, B. 1978a, 60; Cramp 1982, 12, 18, pl. 8A; Cramp 1984, 209; Higgitt 1986b, 132; Wood 1987, 35; Bailey and Cramp 1988, 49, 82; Lang 1990a, 14; Kenyon 1991, 101–2; Lang 1991, 140; Lang 1993, 262; Cramp 1994, 114; Bailey 1996a, 7; Bailey 1996b, 33, 42; Lang and Wrathmell 1997, 378; Cramp 1999, 9; Henderson, G. 1999, 155, 173; Lang 1999, 271, 279, 280; Lang 2000, 109, 117–18, fig. 9.9; Hawkes 2002, 71; Bailey 2003, 225, 227; Hawkes 2003d, 365–6; Cramp 2006, 60; Coatsworth 2008, 64, 141, 142, 218, ill. 870; Pickles 2009, 5–7, 9–13, 15, 17–18, 20–1, 23, fig. 20

[1] The following are general references to the Halton stones: Allen 1894, 4, 8; Taylor, H. 1898, 42; Ditchfield 1909, 118–19; Curwen 1925, 30; Fellows-Jensen 1985, 402, 405; Noble 1999, 16; Blair 2005, 216, 309, 310, 463; Newman, R. M. 2006, 102.

The following are unpublished manuscript references: BL Add. MS 37550, items 602–13, 735; BL Add. MS 37551, items 66–71; Manchester Public Library, Hibbert Ware S. MSS: Msf 091 H21, vol. 5, 38; ibid., vol. 6, 40.

[2] A new discussion of the angel'scene on Halton St Wilfrid 3 by Thomas Pickles (2009) appeared too late to be considered here.