EARLY CHRISTIAN ART 



NINTH CENTURY. Cross-shafts at Norbury and Hope. 



TENTH CENTURY. Fragment of round pillar-cross at Bakewell. Portion of round pillar-cross used 



as font at Wilne. Coped stones at Bakewell and Repton. Fragments of cross-shafts at Darley 



Dale and St. Alkmund's, Derby. 



SCULPTURE OF THE ANGLO-NORMAN PERIOD IN DERBYSHIRE 



For the sake of convenience we have arranged the Norman sculpture 

 in Derbyshire under three heads : (i) fonts ; (ii) tympana and lintels 

 of doorways ; and (iii) miscellaneous sculpture, such as details of chancel 

 arches, arcades, windows and doorways ; fragments built into walls ; and 

 sepulchral slabs. 



Examples of Norman sculpture are to be found at the following 

 places in Derbyshire : 



FONTS. Ashover, Church Broughton, Mellor, Somersall, Tissington, Youlgreave. 



TYMPANA AND LINTELS OF DOORWAYS. Ashford, Ault Hucknall, Bolsover, Findern, Hognaston, 



Kedleston, Normanton, Swarkestone, Tissington, Whitwell, Willington, Parwich, Scarcliffe. 

 MISCELLANEOUS SCULPTURED DETAILS. Ault Hucknall, Bakewell, Bradbourne, Darley, Duffield, 



Heath, Long Eaton, Shirley, Stanton-by-Bridge, Steetley, Wirksworth. 



FONTS : Ashover. 1 The font in the church here is of stone encased in lead, and the only 

 excuse for including it with the others is that the style of art is the same. The leaden cover 

 is cast and ornamented with an arcade of twenty round-headed arches having a single figure 

 under each arch. The figures are draped, and all hold a book in the left hand ; but they are 

 of two types or patterns, which recur alternately. 1 They have no nimbus round the head. 

 Below the figures is a band of fleur-de-lys ornament running right round the font. The bowl 

 of the font is cylindrical, i foot inch high and 6 feet 8 inches in circumference at the top. 



Church Broughton. 3 The font in the church at this place is tub-shaped, 2 feet high and 

 2 feet 6 inches in diameter at the top. It is ornamented with a series of interlacing circles 

 and diagonal bars. Inside one of the circles is a small cross. 



Mellor.* The font in the church at this place is cylindrical, with two stepped projections at 

 the bottom, and stands on a round base i foot high, built up of separate stones. The bowl is 

 2 feet 6 inches high and 2 feet 3 inches in diameter at the top. The part above the two 

 stepped projections is i foot 6 inches high, and is ornamented with incised sculpture repre- 

 senting a man on horseback and two beasts biting their tails, with a man between them. The 

 eyes of the beasts and men are diamond-shaped. The style of the sculpture is extremely rude 

 and archaic, so much so that it might almost be Saxon. 



Somersall Herbert.* The font in the church at this place is cylindrical, 2 feet 4 inches 

 high and 2 feet 8 inches in diameter. The lower part of the bowl is ornamented with an 

 arcading of intersecting arches, and round the top is a twist and ring pattern, the bends of the 

 twist all being angular. 



Tissington.* The font in the church has a cylindrical bowl standing on a round step and 

 a square base. The total height is 2 feet 8 inches. The bowl is i foot 5 inches high and 

 2 feet 2j inches in diameter, decorated with incised sculpture representing the Agnus Dei, a 

 monster with a knotted tail and a human head coming out of its mouth, two draped figures of 

 men standing close together, a beast with a floriated tail twisted between its hind legs, and 

 a bird. 



Youlgreave.' 1 The bowl of the font in the church at this place is round, and is supported 

 by a large cylindrical column, with four other smaller clustered columns round it. At one 

 side of the bowl is a projection hollowed out at the top so as to resemble a stoup. Below this 

 stoup-like projection is sculptured a dragon with a looped tail, in a reversed position crawling 

 upwards. At equal intervals round the bowl of the font are three feurs-de-lys. This font 

 came from Elton, a chapelry of Youlgreave. 



1 Journ. Derb. Arch. Sac. ix. 74 ; Arch. Journ. Ivii. 45 ; Cox, Churches of Derbyshire, \. 19. 

 J Ten of them have the right hand raised with the palm outwards, whilst the other ten have the 

 right hand placed against the breast close to the book. 



3 Cox, Churches of Derbyshire, iii. 85. 4 Ibid. ii. 221, 353. 



' Ibid. iii. 287. Reliquary, 1887, 24. 7 Ibid. 1901, 267. 



I 289 37 



