ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



four-cord divided plait, the rest of the surface being left plain. The ornament 

 on the other three sides has been chiselled away. 



Lying in one corner of the room are a large number of detached frag- 

 ments of various dates. Ten ot these are pre-Norman. Tlie largest and 

 most important is half of the base stone or pedestal of a standing cross. It is 

 27 inches high and 18 inches wide, and the depth of the remaining 

 portion is 12 inches. The front is occupied by a large cross of the patee 

 form, the centre of which is emphasised by an incised circle. Above it is a 

 transverse band of knot-work, the upper portion of which has been cut away. 

 The dexter side bears two human figures which Bishop Browne assumes to 

 represent the Salutation or the Return of the Prodigal, for one of the figures 

 is kneeling with head bent down. The sinister side has a monster or dragon 

 with twisted body and a tail placed in the mouth. The remaining fragments 

 are : (i) a piece i 2 inches by 8 inches carved with a lacertine monster ; (ii) a 

 piece of a cross-shaft 16 inches by 12 inches by 9 inches, on one side a rudely- 

 drawn nondescript animal, on the others simple knot-work very much worn ; 

 (iii) fragment of a cross-head 12 inches by 1 1 inches by 6 inches, containing 

 cross knot-work with double cords ; (iv) piece of a shaft 1 1 inches by 8 inches 

 by 6 inches with knots on its four sides, similar to that on the lower panel of 

 the 'Eadmund' stone; (v) a piece of shaft 11 inches by 7 inches by 9 inches 

 long, knot-work on two of its sides, a key pattern on another, and a lacertine 

 monster on the last; (vi) a fragment 16 inches by 1 1 inches by 7 inches, with 

 large knots coarsely worked on two sides, the other two surfaces broken away; 

 (vii) a fragment i 5 inches by 1 1 inches by 7 J inches has on the face a four- 

 cord plait divided, on the side is a simple looped cord, the angles worked 

 with a cable moulding; (viii) a fragment 15 inches by 9 J inches by 

 6J inches, knot-work on three of its sides, on the other a triple spiral 

 figure and circles in the unoccupied angles. The last fragment (ix) is a 

 portion of a sundial, which will be dealt with among the other sundials. 



ConiscUffe. — There was a church here in Anglo-Saxon days dedicated in 

 honour of St. Edwin. Traces of this building are to be found in several 

 fragments of sculptured crosses built into the present church, which dates 

 from the last years of the twelfth century. On the north side of the tower 

 is a small fragment 8 inches by 6 inches, the exposed face of which shows a 

 few loops of an undivided plait design. On the west side of the tower, about 

 1 5 feet from the ground, is a stone 1 6 inches by 5 inches on the face, appa- 

 rently a portion of the upper part of one side of a cross-shaft. A bead is run 

 round its angles, and the design upon it begins with a four-cord plait, which 

 after making four or five crossings changes into a series of interrupted knots, 

 of which two remain. 



A more interesting and important relic is an early grave-cover, which is 

 built in, face downwards, as a lintel in the western window in the third stage 

 of the tower. The visible portion is 2 feet 6 inches long, 1 1 inches wide at 

 one end and 10 inches at the other. One part of its surface is covered with. 

 a four-cord plait, without breaks, divided from which by three transverse 

 beads is a pair of shears 9 inches long, of the form used to indicate the burial 

 of a female, and a design consisting of a series of sunk triangles placed alter- 

 nately point to base in parallel rows, a design commonly used in surface 

 ornament in the Norman period. This is the only instance which has come 



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