A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



described by the bishop of Bristol. 1 ' The main subject must represent our 

 Lord fulfilling the promise that the seed of Eve should bruise the serpent's 

 head. On the highly interesting stone at Dereham in Cumberland 2 there 

 are three figures in a row, under semicircular arcades, with a gross serpent 

 rolling under their feet, the right foot of the dexter figure on the creature's 

 mouth. At Kirkdale the serpent lies beneath the feet of the Saviour on the 

 cross. At Chester le Street, as elsewhere, the serpent becomes a dragon, and 

 the form of dragon selected here is of the deer-shaped type, with huge teeth. 

 Its attitude betokens overthrow, while still it rears its neck and tries to tear 

 the feet which trample on its head. One fore leg seems to be helpless in the 

 corner of the panel, the other is held up under the head and is hampered 

 by the tail. . . . The figures on each side of our Lord may have either 

 of the meanings, while it is quite possible that they may mean something very 

 different from both. ... If the dexter figure has a cock's head and the 

 similar figure the head of the fox they will represent pride and avarice, two 

 of the sins which have been named as slaying our Lord.' 3 The opposite side 

 has had two large holes cut in it. The remaining surface contains an inter- 

 laced design of a very rude and irregular character. The remaining side has 

 a bold example of interlacing bands, in the upper part of which an indepen- 

 dent circle occurs. 



The other stones are collected in the Parochial Institute, which 

 is on the opposite side of a lane to the west of the church. Four of these 

 are portions of cross-shafts, and are placed on small wooden pedestals against 

 the east wall of the room. The one at the south end measures 33 inches by 

 10 inches by 8 inches. The sides exhibit various patterns of plaited cords of 

 flat and somewhat coarse workmanship. The next stone, measuring 30 inches 

 by i ij inches by 8jinch.es, has on the front a tolerably well cut four-cord 

 plait, the cords being double. The sides have four-cord twists. The angles 

 are worked with a cable moulding. 



The next is a more important relic than any of the others, as it contains 

 a figure subject, consisting of a mounted warrior on whose left arm is a large 

 circular shield with a well-developed boss.* Above him are the heads of two 

 dragons, pointing downwards towards the horseman. Above their bodies and 

 partly upon them are the letters E A D M v N r>, the M and N being runes. 

 Bishop Browne remarks that this subject represents the evil spirits being 

 withstood by the Scandinavian hero, as on the cross at Gosforth in Cumber- 

 land. The two panels below are boldly executed but ill designed, with 

 interlacements of circular form independent of one another, the upper one 

 having two concentric and independent circles, with an endless band interlaced 

 with them, while the lower one consists of a circle with two pairs of diagonal 

 bands, the ends of which interlace with an independent circle. The bands 

 are all double. The sides have four-cord plaits of a design which occurs in 

 various places, as at Brescia, Hexham, Ripon, 6 Hart, etc. 



The last of these cross-shafts measures 25 J inches by loj inches by 

 8j inches, and has on the upper part of the face for about half its length a 



1 Blunt, A Thousand Tears of the Church in Chester le Street, 185. 



2 V. C. H. Cumb. i. 276. Blunt, of. fit. 185. * Arch. Mliana, x 88. 



6 Romilly Allen, Analysis of Celtic Interlaced Ornament: Proc. Sac. Ant. Scot. xvii. 225 sqq. fig. 123; 

 Cattaneo, Architecture in Italy, Engl. ed. 151. 



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