A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



Hart. — In the church are six portions of pre-Conquest crosses, a sun- 

 dial, and two pieces of turned balusters. One of the fragments built into the 

 west wall of the nave is part of the shaft of a cross, with a panel with two 

 figures in relief upon it. The fragment with the best work measures 

 I 8 inches by 1 1 inches by jl inches. From one side the ornament has been 

 chiselled away. The remaining face shows that the fragment is from the 

 top of a cross-shaft. The angles are beaded. The ornament begins with 

 two conjoined ' triquetras,' below which is the frequently recurring design of 

 three complete circles, through which four bands, placed saltire-wise, interlace 

 and have their ends joined. The other face also has the design already 

 described in connexion with the ' Eadmund ' stone at Chester-le-Street. 

 In the Hart example the design is well set out, and there is a sequence 

 of three loops on either side of a centre line, occupying a length of 

 I I J inches. On the uninjured side the same design occurs again on a 

 smaller scale, but as the width is less, a sequence of four loops is required 

 to fill the same length. 



Another fragment measures 15 inches by 10 inches by 6nnches. Upon 

 the uninjured face the design just described occurs again. It is divided 

 into two sections by a transverse band, the surviving portions being therefore 

 the lower portion of one and the upper portion of another. The sides 

 contain four-cord plaits. 



Another fragment measures 17 inches by 11 inches by 7 inches. One 

 face contains a panel filled with regular plait-work. Below this is the upper 

 portion of the figure of a man on horseback, with a spear in his right hand 

 and appearing over his shoulder. The opposite face has the same plait. 

 The two sides are occupied with knot-work, one of which is No. 1 1 in 

 Mr. Romilly Allen's Analysis.^ The other is similar to No. 106 in the 

 same list. 



Another is a portion of the end of the arm of a cross with knot-work 

 on the end and one of the sides. 



Another is a small fragment of a cross-shaft with knot-work on three of 

 its sides. 



Another fragment has sculpture on two of its sides, one of which 

 indicates that it is part of the head of a cross which had a circular cross 

 patee in a circle. 



The sundial is described among the others below. 



Haughton-le-Skerne . — The ancient church here was one of the last in 

 the county to undergo the process of enlargement and restoration, which 

 took place in 1890. In the walls of the cliancel were several portions of 

 pre-Conquest crosses. These were taken out, but others, which were found 

 during the alterations, were unfortunately built into the walls of the porch 

 and the north wall of the nave, and much of their interest has been lost. 

 The two stones in the porch are small ; one shows some irregular knot-work 

 on its face, and the other, not (]uitc half of a small cross patce, is no doubt 

 a portion of a grave-cover. The other stones arc arranged in two groups in 

 recesses in the north wall of the nave. In the western group are four 

 stones, the most important being a small grave-cover or headstone, 2 feet 

 long and i i inches wide. It has a semicircular head and contains a cross 



' Pioc. Soc. jint. Scotland, xvii. 132, 2.|8. 

 232 



