50 



^ote^ on % ®niamentation of tljc Carlg 

 Cljtbtian ^ouumenb of Milfeljiit. 



By J. EoMiLLT AiLEN, F.S.A. Scot. 



^N 1885, when, with the assistance of the Rev. Canon G. F. 

 BrownCj F.S.A., I compiled a " List of Stones with 

 Interlaced Ornament in England," which was published in the 

 "Journal of the British Arch(^oloijical Association" (vol. 41., p. 

 351), there were only two localities in Wiltshire, namely, Bradford- 

 on-Avon and Britford, where monuments of pre-Norman date were 

 known to exist. The recent discoveries of other examples at Colerne 

 (2), Cricklade (2), Knook, Ramsbury (6), and Somerford Keynes 

 add five new localities and twelve new stones to those previously 

 known. The amount of fresh material thus broug-ht to light entirely 

 revolutionises the notions we had hitherto formed of the character of 

 Christian art in the ancient kingdom of Wessex before the Norman 

 Conquest. As long as it was supposed there were only two localities 

 throughout the whole area where stones with Hiberno-Saxon ornament 

 were to be found, it was only natural to conclude that these were not 

 indigenous to the area in question, but were outliers from some 

 neighbouring group of monuments, such as those of Mercia on the 

 north, or of Devon and Cornwall on the west. Now, however, it 

 appears that stones of this class are almost as evenly distributed 

 over the length and breadth of the ancient kingdom of Wessex as 

 over other parts of Saxon England — the only district where they 

 are conspicuously absent being Middlesex and the surrounding 

 counties.^ In the light of our newly-acquired knowledge we must 

 re-consider conclusions previously arrived at with regard to the 



' The absence of early monuments here may perhaps be explained by there 

 being no good stone available for sculpture in the Home Counties. As time goes 

 on further discoveries may be made in this area which will modify oar views 

 ■with regard to the geographical distribution of the stones. 



