A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



The Saxon rood at Breamore,* which is built into the exterior wall 

 of the nave above the south doorway, resembles the Headbourne 

 Worthy rood except that the body of the Saviour is bent, which would 

 indicate a later date. 



The rood at Romsey is built into the south wall of the choir on 

 the inside. The crucifixion is treated in the Byzantine manner with 

 the limbs unbent. On each side of the top arm of the cross is an angel 

 and on either side of the shaft are St. Mary and St. John, and below the 

 soldiers with the spear and sponge some foliage is to be seen near the 

 foot of the cross. The shaft of the cross is made unusually long to 

 allow of the figures of the soldiers being placed below those of the chief 

 mourners. 



It is impossible not to associate these Hampshire roods with two 

 other representations of the crucifixion belonging to the Winchester 

 school of Saxon ecclesiastical art, namely the miniature in the psalter 

 written by ./Elsinus 3 (a monk and afterwards abbot of New Minster) 

 between A.D. 978 and 928, and now in the British Museum Library 

 (Titus. D. xxvii.) ; and the magnificent golden cross given by king Cnut 

 to New Minster, the donation of which is illustrated in the Register of 

 Hyde Abbey* (A.D. 984-1005).' 



The three Saxon sundials in Hampshire at Corhampton, Warnford 

 and St. Michaels Winchester, are all very much alike, and all are cut 

 on a square stone with a leaf-like ornament at each of the four corners. 

 The dial faces are in all three cases enclosed within a double circle, and 

 the lines indicating the divisions of time radiate from the centre, but do 

 not go beyond the circumference of the inner circle. In the Corhamp- 

 ton and Warnford sundials the lower half of the circle is divided into 

 four equal angles, but in the Winchester one the quadrant on the left 

 side is divided into six equal angles, whilst the quadrant on the right side 

 is divided into four equal angles. Three of the radial lines have small 

 crosses on the end next the circumference, a peculiarity which may be 

 noticed in many other Saxon sundials. The object of the crosses is to 

 mark the principal divisions of the day more clearly. All three of the 

 Hampshire sundials were intended to be placed vertically. The one at 

 Corhampton, which is in situ, is built into the south wall. Warnford 

 church although founded by Wilfrid was rebuilt in Norman times by 

 Adam de Port, as is recorded by two inscriptions in Lombardic capitals, 

 one in the north wall and the other inside the south porch. The sun- 

 dial no doubt belongs to Wilfrid's Saxon church. St. Michaels Win- 



1 Described by the Rev. A. du Boulay Hill in his paper on the church already alluded to in the 

 Arcbifokgcal Journal, Iv. 86. 



* Reproduced in Dr. W. de Gray Birch's Early Drawings and Illuminations in the British Museum. 



8 C. J. Wall's Alfred the Great, p. 25. 



1 The characteristics of the Saxon type of crucifixion are given in J. R. Allen's Christian SymboKsm, 

 P; '55- I* generally includes representations of Sol and Luna, and has St. Mary and St. John at 

 either side instead of the soldiers with the spear and sponge, which are universally used in the Irish 

 type of crucifixion. Saxon roods are by no means common, but there are examples at Daglingworth, 

 Gloucestershire, and Little Langford, Wilts. Others of early date exist abroad at Montmille Priory 

 near Beauvais, France, and at Horn, Westphalia. 



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